A Conflict of Feelings
by dna2000
Summary: Modern AU! Matthew and Mary spend an evening alone together, causing them to question how they really feel about each other, and what they want from their lives. A prequel to 'An Evening In'. Ch.9 goes up to 'M' rating!
1. Chapter 1

"See you tomorrow, hope you have fun!" Mary kissed her parents goodbye, closed the door behind them and turned to look at her chaperone. Matthew gave her a cheeky smile in return.

The notion that she even needed a chaperone was ridiculous. She was in her mid-twenties! But, her parents were spending the night away in Plymouth, and with Edith staying over with friends and Sybil not yet home from university, Robert and Cora had been reluctant to leave their precious eldest daughter alone in the big house. There had been a break-in two weeks ago in one of the neighbouring townhouses, and they didn't want to risk it. So, naturally, they called upon their darling Matthew to spend the night with Mary (in entirely separate rooms, of course). Matthew had been employed by Robert about six months earlier, to dispense some legal advice in relation to the family's properties and taxes. His retainer had technically ended, but Robert and Cora had taken to the young man so well that they remained in touch, which Matthew was perfectly happy with. It was always good to have such wealthy, legally-ignorant contacts. Furthermore, it didn't hurt that their eldest daughter was an absolute bombshell and had struck up an unlikely friendship with him.

When they'd first met, Mary treated Matthew like she'd treated most young men- with disdain. This confused Matthew at first, not knowing what he'd done to tread on her toes and upset her so much, but he later understood that, after a lifetime of being relentlessly pursued by boys who only wanted her money and looks, it made sense for her to have her guard up. So he'd tried his best to keep out of her way and only speak to her when spoken to. Counter-intuitively, this caught Mary's attention. No other young male (or old male, for that matter) had shown that level of disinterest towards her. Then one night, at a dinner party which Robert hosted for his business contacts, a tipsy Mary plopped down on the sofa in the corner of the room next to a tipsy Matthew, and their friendship was born. Since then, they'd only gotten closer- something which didn't escape the notice of Robert and Cora. They never suspected anything romantic, though; Matthew was in a long-term relationship with Lavinia, and Mary had more than enough suitors to keep her occupied. They were just happy to see Mary gain a level-headed, older-brother-type influence in her life.

"What are you smiling at?" Mary asked. "Are you looking forward to combating the inevitable rogue who's going to crowbar his way into the house while we sleep?" Sarcasm dripped from her voice. Not only was she annoyed that her parents were being so over-protective, Mary thought it was a little bit ridiculous that her parents had chosen _Matthew_ to stay in the house with her, of all people. She wasn't sure he'd ever been in a proper fight in his entire life; the closest thing was probably his brief spell of army-training at Sandhurst, but even that was about six years ago.

"I just think it's hilarious that you still need a chaperone. Have you got anything to do tonight?" Matthew asked, sensing it was probably best not to mock Mary too much. He knew she hated that she was always so sheltered, almost controlled. He felt bad for her. She was such a strong-willed girl but her behaviour was constantly being corrected or stifled. It made him glad that he wasn't born into a family of such high-standing and reputation.

"No, not really. I just need to send off a couple of job applications, otherwise Mum will keep nagging me about it tomorrow. What a way for a young girl to spend her Saturday night. What about you? Oh, I forgot to say, you can invite Lavinia over for dinner if you want. I remember you said earlier that you hadn't seen her for a while."

Matthew hesitated to respond. "Oh, thanks, but, erm…it's fine. I'll just give her a ring a bit later."He mumbled.

Mary put her hands on her hips, tilting her head and eyeing Matthew curiously. "For a lawyer, you're really not good at keeping a poker face, you know."

"I'm a solicitor, not a barrister. We do more paperwork than speaking." Matthew tried to steer the conversation in another direction.

"Whatever. So what's going on with you and Lavinia?" Frustratingly for Matthew, Mary always saw right through his tactics. He frequently tried to persuade her to do a law conversion course and become a barrister. He could just imagine her in cross-examination; those poor defendants wouldn't know what hit them.

"Nothing's _going on_, as such. It's just that I haven't told her I'm staying here tonight." Matthew replied sheepishly.

"Oh," Mary was surprised. It wasn't like Matthew to lie or hide things from anyone, let alone his girlfriend. "Why not? Would she be angry?"

"No…well, probably not angry, but it's just a bit awkward to explain to your girlfriend that you're spending the night with another girl."

"You're not 'spending the night with me', you fool. Your room is about half a mile away from mine! There's no reason to feel awkward about it. Why would you feel awkward?" Mary asked. If Mary was honest with herself, she was extremely curious about why Matthew felt the need to hide the situation from Lavinia; surely, if Matthew saw tonight as nothing but a favour to a former employer and friend, he'd have no reason to turn it into some kind of clandestine rendez-vous. If Mary was _really_ honest with herself, she almost hoped that Matthew _did_ see tonight as more than just a favour to her father. She hoped that he actually wanted to spend time with her, alone. Over the last few months, they'd become so close. So _connected_. Mary was sure she'd never felt so comfortable around another person, especially a man.

For most of their friendship, Mary usually only saw Matthew when he was with her father, discussing legal matters, or when he was with Lavinia, at his flat for drinks or small dinner parties. This, she thinks, probably made her subconscious mind prevent herself from developing any attraction for him, by thinking of him as an associate of her father's, or as someone who was already attached. But recently, they've started spending time alone together. Going to the cinema (not without first incessantly mocking each other's choice of film), concerts (he'd tried to convince her that she did in fact like folk music), or just hanging out and watching TV (Matthew always insisted that he was too intellectual for all the trashy reality TV that Mary forced upon him, although Mary could tell that he harboured a secret fascination with Spencer and Heidi from The Hills). Mary had noticed a direct correlation between the amount of time she spent alone with Matthew and the number of romantic thoughts she had about him. Each time he spoke about his dates with Lavinia, or she visited his flat right after Lavinia had left and noticed his crumpled sheets, she felt an ever-increasing pang of jealousy. She found herself wondering what it felt like to sit on his lap, how he kissed…whether he was good in bed. _God knows why I'm trying to convince him to invite her over tonight, when I could have him all to myself_. She then reminded herself that she's the queen of hiding her feelings, particularly romantic ones, and she's merely working on auto-pilot.

"I don't know!" Matthew's eventual reply knocked her out of her pensiveness. "I suppose I'm just an idiot, as you're forever telling me." He hoped his feeble joke would suffice as an answer to her question. "Besides, I have a bit of work to do myself…and _then_ I have a favour to ask you." Matthew gave her his cutest smile.

"A favour?" Mary asked sceptically. She didn't like the way he was smiling at her. Well, she _did_, it was adorable, but she knew that it signified a great sacrifice on her part.

"Yes. And considering I'm spending so much time and energy protecting you right now, you have to agree to it. It would be terribly rude not to."

"Hmm. We'll see about that. OK, seeing as we both have work to be done, shall we each get that out of the way now? Then we can order some food and you can try and persuade me to agree to whatever your mysterious request is."

"Sounds good. Except for the fact that we won't be ordering in- I'm going to cook dinner and _you_ are going to help me, Miss Crawley. The second thing wrong with what you just said is that you are _definitely_ going to agree to my request. So, overall, you only made two mistakes in your little speech there. That's a big improvement on when I first met you." Matthew teased, summoning his most patronising voice. He could see her getting riled up as he spoke, and he loved it. He always thought she was at her most beautiful when she was annoyed at him. But then she'd smile, or laugh, or frown slightly in concentration while painting her nails, and he'd change his mind. Of course, he'd immediately banish these thoughts from his mind as soon as they entered it. It was inappropriate to think of another woman in that way. _You only have eyes for Lavinia_, he'd remind himself.

"I'll deal with your deluded ideas when the time comes. I have no time to disprove them now- my job applications await." Mary put on her haughtiest-sounding voice, turned her back to him and walked out of the room to go upstairs. Once she'd disappeared from his sight, Matthew realised that he'd been appreciating the view a little too much. She was wearing a black bandeau jumpsuit (not that Matthew had any idea that that was what it was called) which fit her figure perfectly. Matthew chastised himself for admiring another woman's body in that way. _But_, the little devil on Matthew's shoulder said, _surely __all__ men, even the married ones, admire other versions of the female form? It's only natural! I'm sure Lavinia admires other men all the time. It's human nature!_

Matthew shook his head clear of all these conflicting, confusing thoughts, and settled down on the plush sofa with his laptop and paperwork. As much as he knew he needed to concentrate, he couldn't help but wonder what else was going to happen that night.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: thanks so much for all your reviews, story alerts and favourites! It's lovely to know that people are excited about the story._

_I know the whole 'Matthew and Lavinia are a couple and along comes Mary' plot has been done before (and done very well, I might add), but hopefully you'll find something different in this story to keep you interested xxx_

A couple of hours had passed by when Matthew heard footsteps approaching the living room, where he'd been working. Well, "working". He still hadn't finished annotating the draft lease, even though two hours had been more than enough time to do so. Conflicting thoughts of his possible romantic feelings towards Mary, and of his definite romantic feelings towards Lavinia (they were still definite, weren't they?) kept pushing their way to the front of his mind, forcing him to confront the issue. He'd always found Mary physically attractive, but he didn't pay much attention to those feelings- most men with a decent level of eyesight appreciated her looks. But over the last few weeks he'd found himself increasingly enjoying her company. She was witty, well-read and could be surprisingly caring when she needed to be. He'd found in her a close, trust-worthy friend. He didn't have many of those, and so valued her all the more.

Eventually, he'd made a decision- he and Lavinia were in a committed relationship, and had been for almost two years. She'd been a dedicated, loving girlfriend to him all that time, and he couldn't fault her in any way. In contrast, he'd known Mary for six months, and they'd been proper friends for only three or four months. Despite their friendship, they couldn't seem to hold a conversation without purposefully annoying or mocking each other, and hardly shared any interests at all. Furthermore, Mary had given him no indication that she saw him as anything other than a friend- and why would she? She had enough suitors as it was. It would be stupid to even _think_ about pursuing anything with her, even if he was single. Which he certainly wasn't.

"Are you ready for dinner?" He heard her ask as she peeked round the living room door.

"Yes, I am." He technically wasn't, but he figured he could always finish his reading once Mary had gone to bed. "Are you hungry?"

"No, not really, but I probably will be by the time the food arrives. What are you in the mood for?" Mary got out her phone and started scrolling through her contact list, which was full of the numbers for local (gourmet, naturally) takeaways.

"I'm insulted that you'd think I would have forgotten something that _I_ suggested to you a mere two hours ago. We're cooking." Matthew stood and grabbed Mary's hand, dragging her towards the kitchen. "Lavinia came up with this great recipe a few weeks ago; I nosied around your kitchen earlier and I'm pretty sure you've got all the ingredients."

"Yes, I remember. Lavinia's _fabulous _chicken dish." Mary couldn't help muttering drily under her breath. Matthew had talked her ear off about how delicious it had been and how talented Lavinia was in the kitchen. It had made Mary feel rather inadequate, for some inexplicable reason…

"Oh, did I mention that to you already?" Matthew queried as he began opening kitchen cupboards, curious about Mary's strange tone of voice. "Well, it was amazing, and she's texted me the recipe. It sounds fairly straightforward, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to prepare, even for you, my little sous-chef." He teased, pinching her side playfully.

There was that infuriatingly patronising tone again. Mary reasoned that it should have made her want to refuse to help him cook- to simply sit there and watch him and take every opportunity to point out things he was doing wrong. Instead, however, she felt the need to prove to him that she _was_ capable of fulfilling _some_ household chores with a decent level of success. That she wasn't just an over-protected pseudo-aristocrat, living in her little bubble where housework and cooking don't exist.

"Fine, what do you want me to do? And by the way, don't even think about asking me to call you 'Chef' during this process."

An hour or so later, and Mary and Matthew were sat at the dining table, admiring their work and complimenting themselves (not each other, obviously) on their talents. The dish had turned out well, and preparations had gone fairly smoothly. Matthew was actually quite impressed with how Mary had followed the recipe and taken care over the measurements - he'd half expected her to try and deliberately sabotage it so that she could get her own way, and order food in. He _hadn't_ been impressed, however, with her wilfully dropping a handful of grated cheese on his head when he bent down to pick up a bit of coriander off the floor, and her subsequent fit of laughter.

"So," Mary began as she scraped together the last forkful of food from her plate, "I'm almost afraid to ask this, but what's the favour that you wanted?"

Matthew smiled, slightly embarrassed. He didn't really know how to ask without sounding silly. "Well, basically…one of Lavinia's friends is getting married in Berkshire in a couple of weeks, and I'm going with Lavinia to the wedding. The friend and her groom-to-be are both extremely well-bred, so we're expecting the whole affair to be quite grand and formal. Lavinia said the other day that there'll be some waltzing going on during the reception…and neither of us have waltzed before. I was wondering if you could teach me?" He asked hopefully. He really hoped Mary wouldn't see his request as some sort of strategy to 'come onto her' or anything like that. "I just don't want to make a fool of myself in front of all those people." He explained, to clarify his motives. "I told Lavinia that I'd ask you for help." He quickly added.

Mary tried to suppress her affectionate gaze. He was so sweet when he was being shy and awkward! "Matthew, I'd love to be able to help you both, but I'm afraid I don't know how to waltz either! Did you presume that just because I live in a big house that I'd be an expert in ballroom dancing?" She asked with a teasing glint in her eye.

"Oh, no, I just thought…you went to private school and everything…so…I don't really know what I thought." Matthew admitted sheepishly. "You just seem like you'd know how to dance, for some reason." However you felt about Mary Crawley, you couldn't deny that she had elegance and grace in abundance. Matthew had just presumed that this stemmed from a dancing background.

"We did have a couple of lessons, way back in year11, just before our school dance. I can't really remember anything from them, unfortunately. I _am_ pretty good at generally rocking back and forth and swaying to slow music while in hold, though, thanks to a lifetime of dinner/dances. Does that interest you?" She noticed Matthew open his mouth to respond, looking as if he was going to reply in the negative. She cut him off before he could do so. "In fact, I remember Lavinia complaining a while ago that you never danced whenever you went out anywhere. I must therefore insist that you let me help you. After all, you helped me discover the wonders of a cheese-grater this evening. Let me teach you about the magical world of _having a sense of rhythm_." Again pre-empting his response, she clicked her fingers and beckoned him to follow her into the living room, before he had the chance to form any words at all.

Matthew was sat there with his mouth hanging open. How did she _do_ that? "But Mary, we need to put these dishes away!" He called out after her. There was no response, just the sound of music playing from the stereo system. He sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

_This feels nice_, Matthew thought, before quickly chastising himself again. Hadn't he told himself he wouldn't think of Mary that way anymore? They were in hold, gently swaying to the beat of the slow jazz song that Mary had chosen. Although they'd hugged before, this was the most prolonged physical contact they'd ever had with each other, giving Matthew the opportunity to think about how well her dainty hand fit in his, as well as how snugly his arm fit around her petite waist. _She also smells really good_, he observed, as Mary swung her hair back away from her shoulder.

_This feels rather good_, Mary thought. She'd never given that much thought to Matthew's physique before; he had such a handsome face, gorgeous locks of golden hair and the most arrestingly blue eyes you'd ever see- there was enough to appreciate there, without giving thought to his body. But now, as her hand clutched his gently, and her forearm rested on his upper-arm, she realised that he actually had quite a good, lean frame. His arm around her waist was strong, yet he wasn't holding her roughly (some men seemed to think was a good idea, to portray themselves as a 'take charge' kind of guy). _He also smells really good_, she observed, as Matthew leaned forward to get a look at the clock over her shoulder.

"You're not doing too badly. You have more rhythm than I thought you would." Mary said, for want of something to say to break the silence. They'd been gazing at each other's faces for goodness knows how long, to the point where the situation was getting a little awkward, prompting Matthew to avert his attention by checking the time.

"I suppose we're each not _as_ flawed as the other person presumes." Matthew joked, glad they were back to their default setting of making fun of each other. He was much more comfortable with that than with the inappropriate thoughts that were lurking in the back of his mind, which he was desperately trying to banish. _Lavinia, Lavinia, Lavinia, Lavinia_. "I'm sure Lavinia will be impressed with my moves at the wedding." He said, hoping that it would help.

"Yes, I'm sure she will." Mary couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed that Matthew had clearly been thinking of Lavinia this whole time. She could've sworn she'd seen something in the way he'd been looking at her…

"So how's your love-life going? Have your parents set you up with anyone recently?" There wasn't really anywhere else to go with the Lavinia tactic, so maybe steering the conversation towards her endless stream of suitors would have the same effect.

Mary sighed over-dramatically, eliciting a small chuckle from Matthew. She always complained to him about her parents' attempts to find her a suitable husband. "I met this guy for dinner last night, I went on a date with him a couple of weeks ago and he wanted to meet again. He's the son of one of Dad's business acquaintances, I think I told you about him. He's alright, I suppose- there isn't anything _wrong_ with him as such…he sounds perfect on paper and ticks all the boxes, and I know my parents would definitely approve, which is important…but there's just something missing- I don't think I actually _feel_ anything for him. There's no connection. It's the same with all of them." Her tone grew weary. "Do you know what I mean?"

Matthew's heart broke a little for her. Mary and her sisters were all expected to marry certain kinds of men from certain kinds of background. Matthew couldn't really understand it himself, but he knew that Mary had taken this 'duty' to heart and was genuinely trying to please her family by going on dates with these bland men who'd been hand-picked and thoroughly vetted by her family beforehand. Although a large part of Mary undeniably belonged in that social circle, full of privileged, entitled socialites, there was an edge to her that meant she always felt a little out of place among that group. He could tell that she was concerned about how to reconcile her two wishes- to please her family, and to be with someone she genuinely liked (or, if she was lucky, _loved_).

"Yes, I think I understand what you mean." He replied softly. He noticed her look down, looking slightly awkward. He hoped he hadn't sounded like he pitied her. Then she looked up again, almost laughing.

"He kissed me, after we'd had dinner. He really is _not_ a good kisser. Maybe that's the problem. I just need to teach him how to kiss!" She giggled at the memory of her clearly inexperienced date.

Matthew had to fight back the wave of jealousy that threatened to wash over him at the knowledge that Mary had kissed a man last night. The wave subsided when he heard that she hadn't enjoyed it at all; then he found himself grinning at her girlish laughter. "He was probably just nervous, the poor chap! And now you're mocking his skills behind his back. Honestly, Mary, you're too cruel sometimes."

"Why would he be nervous? I was perfectly nice to him! I must have been, if he wanted to kiss me in the first place." Mary suddenly became aware that, while laughing, they'd moved closer to each other. His arm was now further around her waist. She felt herself grow warm…

"It's always nerve-racking to kiss a beautiful girl, regardless of how nice she is!" Matthew retorted, without realising what he'd said.

Mary's eyes widened and her stomach fluttered- Matthew thought she was beautiful? He'd never called her that before…he'd actually never properly commented on her appearance at all. The most she'd ever gotten was a 'you look nice', when she'd been dressed up to the nines for her birthday party a few weeks ago. It wasn't that nobody ever told her she was beautiful- in fact, she heard it constantly. Even the guy last night had told her so! But to hear it from Matthew was special…it meant something to her.

"Well…" she swallowed hard, unsure of what to say, "even accounting for nerves, I think he needs to work on his technique." She thanked her mind for providing her with some words, even if they were quite stupid ones.

The inappropriate part of Matthew's brain was in overdrive. All this talk of Mary kissing other men, and other men kissing Mary, and now of _technique_, was making him heat up. He couldn't stop looking at her full, glossy lips. They were the perfect shade of pink. "What would you suggest to him?" His voice had unintentionally become low and hoarse. _You sound like an idiot_, he told himself.

_He sounds so sexy, so seductive_, Mary thought, feeling her stomach flip over and her body warm up. He'd moved slightly closer to her over the last minute or so. His eyes were dark and seemed to be spending a lot of time looking at her mouth. His mouth was pretty enticing, too. "Shall I show you?" _Oh. My. God. Why did you say that? What the hell are you think- _She stopped midway through her thought, as she saw Matthew's eyes fill with what looked like desire, and he moved his head slowly towards hers. Was he going to let her kiss him?

_She wants to kiss you. Let her_. This was all that Matthew's head (and other parts of his body) told him, and he went with it. He brought his head down towards hers, stopping just before he got to her lips. After all, she'd said that _she_ wanted to kiss _him_.

Mary had stopped thinking. Her body felt like it was about to burst with anticipation, and she knew the only way to relieve it of this feeling was to do what it was begging her to do. She parted her lips, reached up to close the (now imperceptible) gap between her and Matthew, and took his top lip in hers, sucking it gently. She heard Matthew sigh. Sensing that he wanted her to continue, she let go of his lip, only to run the tip of her tongue along it, before taking it in hers again. Matthew positively groaned at this.

The feel of Mary's tongue on his lips almost caused a mess in Matthew's trousers. He let go of her hand, to move his other arm around her waist. He wanted to feel more of her, he needed to. He tilted his head and opened his mouth, finding her tongue with his. This was _insanely_ good.

They both marvelled (with what few brain cells were still functioning) at how good the other tasted, how good this whole situation felt. Mary began to rake her fingers through his hair (his darling, messy hair) as she'd always wanted to, causing Matthew to groan more. His hands began to stroke and squeeze her back, one hand slowly moving up towards her neck, his flat palm touching the exposed skin between her shoulder-blades. He felt her shiver and heard her slight moan from the back of her neck. _Her neck_. He made a mental note to explore that with his lips later. Their tongues and lips continued to caress each other, inducing extreme cases of light-headedness and heat convection between them.

A thought suddenly struck some part of Matthew's subconscious- he remembered how he'd watched her leave earlier, when she'd turned to go upstairs to work. How good her derriere looked in that jumpsuit. How good her derriere always looked. He was somehow even more turned on than he had been up until this thought. He moved himself still closer to her, his tongue delving deeper into her mouth, almost bending her over backwards, with one hand pressing against her back more strongly. He felt and heard her moan and sigh into his mouth, her hands gripping his hair and shoulder more desperately. He loved that she was enjoying this as much as he was. Now to put his little plan into action- he slowly started to move his left hand downwards, over the small of her back, round to her hip, and then down…down towards her perfect-

*THUD*

They broke apart. They'd been so lost in their own little world of bliss that the sound made them physically jump apart from each other.

"What was that?" Mary asked, breathing heavily (whether from the scare or from the kiss, she wasn't sure). "It sounded like someone kicked the front door" she managed to say, trying to ignore the heat flowing around her body and the delicious taste in her mouth.

_Oh God_, thought Matthew. _Is someone trying to break in? Am I actually going to have to fight an intruder tonight? In this…__aroused__ state?_ This certainly was not the evening Matthew had expected when Robert asked him to stay the night. Just then, the front door opened. He noticed Mary take a step back. Was she scared? He felt like he should hold her, protect her. Or did he just want an excuse to touch her again?

"Mary? Matthew?" Called a male voice from the hallway. Did the intruders know their names? Matthew was very confused.

"Oh," Mary sighed, from a mixture of relief and gross disappointment, "my parents are back."

"What?" Matthew asked a little too loudly. He really wasn't very good at hiding his emotions. He didn't want her parents to be back. He wanted to carry on kissing Mary and see where things would lead! "But they're meant to be back tomorrow." He practically whined.

The living room door opened. Matthew quickly grabbed a pillow and held it in front of his groin. "Oh, here you are! Are you both alright?" Robert greeted the two young adults with a smile, until he noticed their panic-stricken faces.

"Yes, we're fine." Mary replied easily. Matthew wondered how she could regain her composure so quickly. "We just heard a loud noise and then heard the front door open, so we got a bit worried."

"Oh, sorry about that, darling. We didn't mean to scare you. That front door gets jammed every now and then, you sort of have to kick it open. It's a bit of a nuisance, actually- I'll ask Cora to call the handyman on Monday."

"It's fine," Mary smiled. She noticed Matthew was keeping very quiet. She knew he wasn't as good at recovering from awkward situations as she was, so she thought it might be best to do all the talking. "Why are you home already? What happened?"

"Hello, my dears." Cora breezed in. "There was a terrible accident somewhere along the motorway and it caused the most enormous traffic jam- we were practically stationary for almost two hours! It was going to take us far too long to get there for the journey to be worth it, so we thought we should probably just come back."

"That's so irritating, you must be disappointed to have to come back home." Mary sympathised, although the regret in her voice completely stemmed from her annoyance that her kiss with Matthew was so abruptly interrupted.

"We'll go back another time, it's no problem," Robert smiled, turning to Matthew, "but at least now poor Matthew doesn't have to spend the night here! I'm sure you have other things you'd rather be doing, wouldn't you, Matthew?" Robert asked genially.

"I…er- yes," Matthew stammered. Mary silently cursed him. Why couldn't he just play it cool? She really didn't want her parents to suspect anything inappropriate had happened. "I mean, I wouldn't have minded staying here, but it's nice that you're back." Matthew attempted to make sense.

Robert and Cora smiled back at him. There was an awkward silence.

"Do you want to go and get your things then, Matthew?" Mary asked, to break the tension. She still didn't look at him – they hadn't made eye contact since the kiss. She also knew that Matthew was secretly afraid of the house- he didn't like big, old buildings. Mary thought making him find his guest bedroom to retrieve his things on his own would be sufficient punishment for being so awkward around her parents.

"Yes, I will. Excuse me," Matthew smiled weakly at her parents before leaving the room. Mary didn't dare watch him leave. She was still trying to get rid of the feelings that had erupted within her during their kiss, and she wasn't sure what effect looking at him would produce.

Robert and Cora also left the room, to get changed and unpack their overnight suitcase. Mary sat down on the sofa and let out a big sigh. What was the next stage? Would they have to talk about the kiss and what it meant? Of course they would…but what _did_ it mean? Would he want a relationship? Would she?

A couple of minutes later she heard someone come down the stairs. It was Matthew. She found herself making her way towards the hallway.

"Matthew" she called to him, just as he was about to open the front door. She couldn't let him just leave like that, without saying anything. But what to say?

Matthew stilled at the sound of her voice. What was she going to say? Was she going to kiss him again? He turned and looked at her, a mixture of desire and anxiety building within him. "Yeah?" he asked, completely uncertain of what her response might be.

"You…you still have a bit of grated cheese in your hair. From earlier."

He certainly hadn't been expecting _that_ response. He didn't really know what to do with that information. He just nodded at her, turned, opened the door and left.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: thanks again for your reviews etc! This chapter was originally meant to be two separate chapters, but I didn't want to leave you without any M/M interaction so I mushed them into one (aren't I nice?)

Matthew began to undo the buttons on his jacket as he stepped into the restaurant. He spotted Tom over at the table already, waving him over. Matthew smiled gratefully at him. He really needed to see him this morning, and was thankful that he agreed to meet for brunch on such short notice. Tom was a security guard at the law firm where Matthew had done his training, and the two had become close friends rather quickly. They shared a lot of the same politics, values and a similar outlook on life, although Tom was generally much more outgoing and care-free.

"Sorry I'm a bit late," Matthew said as he sat down, "I'm not in the best mental state at the moment."

"You're not in the best physical state either, mate." Tom joked, eyeing Matthew's messy hair and mismatched, un-ironed clothing. It wasn't like Matthew to look so dishevelled. It certainly wasn't like Matthew to send him slightly desperate-sounding texts at 6am on a Sunday, telling him that he had a problem he needed help with. "I've ordered for both of us already, by the way, so you can start telling me right now what the hell is wrong with you."

Matthew took a deep breath. He didn't know how to explain what was going on in his brain. The lack of sleep didn't help him make sense of it, either. Maybe he should just be blunt, and work from there.

"Mary and I kissed last night." He was sure that the look of shock on Tom's face was reflected on his own. He'd spent all night running over what had happened in his mind, but to hear himself actually say the words out loud shocked (and, irritatingly, excited) him.

"Mary? As in, Mary Crawley?" Tom shrieked. Matthew vigorously batted his hand at Tom, to indicate that Tom should seriously consider lowering his voice, as he frantically looked around at the other tables to make sure nobody heard. They were miles away from where Mary lived, but he didn't want to risk anybody else hearing about it. Especially if they knew Lavinia. Maybe it hadn't been a sensible idea to choose a public place to tell Tom about this.

"Yes, _her_." Matthew hissed. Sensing that Tom was, for once, short of things to say, Matthew began to explain the events of the evening to him. Tom leaned across the table with wide eyes, like a little boy being told a scary story in the playground. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Wait, so it was her idea to kiss? You didn't initiate it?" Tom clarified, once Matthew had finished. Matthew nodded hesitantly, but there was the unmistakable look of guilt in his eyes. "…Or did you play any part in initiating the kiss?" Tom pressed. Matthew had such a good conscience and strong morals, Tom knew it would be difficult for him to talk about this without any difficulty. He'd have to take his time and pry information out of Matthew slowly and patiently.

"Erm…well," Matthew sighed again, steadying himself for what he was about to admit. "I suppose I can't lay all the responsibility for the kiss on her," he began to speak very quickly and softly, so much so that Tom had to strain his ears to hear what Matthew was saying. "While we were dancing, I found myself, sort of, pulling her closer towards me- and holding her a bit more…possessively…than was, perhaps…appropriate. And then, when she asked if I wanted her to show me how to kiss-" Matthew sighed again, "looking back on it now, she was probably just joking, but I took it as a proper invitation. I was the one that leaned in. And once we were kissing, I was the one that deepened it. I definitely got a bit carried away." Matthew concluded. He felt a sense of relief at having admitted his culpability in what happened, but a simultaneous deepening of the guilt that had been gnawing away at his conscience throughout the night. He felt like he just wanted to crawl away into a hole and pretend none of this had happened.

Tom noticed the despondent look in his friend's eyes. He knew that Matthew must be eating himself up about this, but he needed to ask more questions. "So, this kiss…what kind of kiss was it?" Sensing Matthew's discomfort at the open-ended question, he decided to make it easier for him. "OK, just nod for 'yes' and shake your head for 'no'. Was there any tongue involved?" Matthew winced, his eyes focused on the tablecloth, then nodded once, slowly. "Was it just _her_ tongue involved?" Tom couldn't believe they were having this conversation. Matthew shook his head reluctantly. "Right. Do I take from this that there was a meeting of tongues?" Both friends were growing increasingly uncomfortable during this inquisition.

Matthew practically recoiled. He couldn't take these questions any more. "Evan and Lizzy." Matthew stated simply. At Tom's bemused expression, he clarified "At your birthday last year. Remember Evan and Lizzy?"

Realisation dawned on Tom's face at the memory. Two of his good friends had drunkenly got together at his party, causing quite a spectacle. "You and Mary kissed like _that_?" Tom cried. "Holy mother of-" Tom stopped himself as he noticed the pained look on Matthew's face. He didn't want to make him feel any worse than he already did. "Right, well…that clearly means that you both enjoyed it. So…" Tom trailed off. "Do you think you'll pursue it? With Mary?"

"I don't bloody know, Tom" Matthew said bitterly, tilting his chair back and leaning his head against the wall behind him. There was a minute or so of silence. "I can't just break things off with Lavinia. We've been together for almost two years." Matthew finally said, wearily.

"Mate, you can't stay with someone just because you feel obligated to. You wouldn't be doing Lavinia any favours if you stayed with her while you had feelings for Mary, anyway." Tom explained as gently as he could. Matthew was obviously in quite a volatile state.

"I do still have feelings for her, though. She's such an amazing girlfriend." Matthew said so softly that Tom began to wonder if he was talking more to himself than he was to Tom. "Oh God, I can't believe I cheated on her." Matthew threw his head down onto the table with a thud, his hands reaching up to pull at his hair. He painted a rather pathetic-looking picture.

"Mate," Tom began. He hated seeing his friend like this. "Don't see it that way. Look, maybe you just had a moment of weakness. You've not seen Lavinia in a while, right?" Matthew nodded, his head still face-down on the table. "Well, maybe you just momentarily forgot how much you love her. And being presented with the opportunity of kissing Mary Crawley, you sort of lost your head a bit and went for it. There aren't many guys, single or not, who _wouldn't_ have gone for it." Tom tried to assuage his friend's worries.

"But I'm not that kind of guy, Tom." Matthew finally raised his head off the table. "I don't give into things like that. I'm _loyal_." Matthew sighed for what seemed to Tom like the thousandth time. Matthew had always prided himself on being a 'good boy'; sincere, trustworthy and with good morals. These were qualities that had always helped him in life, whether in relation to his career (it was rare to find a lawyer with such qualities these days) or in relation to his love-life. Girls had always appreciated his honesty.

"I know, mate." Tom sympathised. He was beginning to feel like Matthew was making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Granted, it's not exactly admirable to kiss another girl behind your girlfriend's back, but God knows how Matthew would react if he'd fathered a child by another woman! "But put this behind you. You're still the same guy you always were. It just was a mistake. Nobody's perfect. It didn't mean anything." Tom said with a confidence that he did not possess. He was sure that the kiss must have meant _something_ to Matthew, otherwise he wouldn't feel this guilty. And Tom had been rather suspicious recently of the amount of time that Matthew and Mary had been spending together. Although Matthew had generally been quite popular with girls, thanks to his dreadfully handsome face and lovable personality, he'd never spend much time with a girl unless he was in a relationship with her. Mary had seemed to be an exception.

Matthew took a while to let his friend's advice sink in. _He's right_, Matthew's brain told him. _You just had a stupid moment where you forgot who you were and what your principles are. You're in a loving, committed relationship. Don't let this lapse of sanity ruin that. _Eventually, Matthew looked up at his friend and nodded. "You're right. I just need to forget this ever happened. There's no point dwelling on it."

"Exactly." Tom tried to offer a reassuring smile, but wasn't sure if he managed it convincingly, given that they hadn't really explored Matthew's actual feelings for Mary, or given any thought at all to Mary's feelings. He was beginning to doubt the soundness of his own advice. "Just a silly mistake. And maybe don't see Mary for a little while." He added. "I think seeing her would just confuse you again. You need to spend some time alone with Lavinia. You've both been so preoccupied lately that you've hardly seen each other! Spend some quality time with her and I'm sure you'll be certain of where your feelings truly lie." _Wow_, Tom thought to himself, _I'm quite good at bullshitting_.

Matthew's nods became more confident. "That makes sense. I might go and see her right now, actually." Matthew felt a wave of positivity wash over him. He threw some money down on the table next to his uneaten food, stood up, grabbed his jacket, and made to leave. "Thanks so much, Tom. This has really helped." He gave his friend another grateful smile.

"No problem at all." Tom smiled back. "Tell Lavinia I say 'hello'."

"I will do," Matthew gave Tom an appreciative pat on the shoulder as he strode past, and out of the restaurant.

Now it was Tom's turn to sigh. _I hope this doesn't get messy_, he silently prayed.

Mary slipped on her flats before walking out of the house. She didn't have the energy for heels today; she'd not slept well last night. Millions of thoughts were whizzing around her mind at the same time, and she was determined to put an end to it. _This needs to be sorted out today_, she told herself as she defiantly put her keys into the ignition.

A while later, she paused in front of Matthew's door. Drawing herself up to her full height and taking a deep breath, she pressed the buzzer for his flat. Despite her attempts at calming herself down, she couldn't quell the nerves bubbling up inside of her. She had no idea how she'd react when she saw him. More worryingly, she had no idea how _he'd_ react when he saw _her_. Neither of them had given the other any indication whatsoever of what they thought the kiss meant.

There was no answer. She buzzed again. Her foot began to tap on the floor, revealing her impatience. Realising he wasn't at home, she leant back against the wall behind her and sighed. She wasn't sure if she was frustrated that he wasn't at home, or relieved. Perhaps she should take more time to think about what she wants to say to him, before she sees him. _The problem is_, she thought, _I won't know what I want to say to him __until__ I see him._ A troubling thought suddenly popped into her mind- _what if he saw me pulling up to the flat, through his window? And he's deliberately ignoring me?_

Mary didn't have long to ponder this thought, as she heard footsteps and two voices nearing her.

"Oh, Mary!" One of the voices said. Mary recognised it immediately. She turned around, and was greeted with Lavinia's cheery face and outstretched arms. "I haven't seen you in so long!" Lavinia cried as Mary reluctantly stepped into her embrace. Evidently Matthew hadn't told her about what happened last night- but what did that mean? "Matthew didn't mention that you were coming over today."

Mary, still caught in Lavinia's clutch, slowly directed her gaze towards Matthew, who was standing a couple of paces away. He didn't look very happy. His eyes were what could only be described as 'steely' and his jaw was set. Mary had hardly ever seen him look so displeased. Why would he be _angry_ at her? Of all the possible reactions Mary had envisaged Matthew having, anger was not one of them. It wasn't like Mary had inflicted the kiss upon him non-consensually. Her thoughts were interrupted by Lavinia stepping away and smiling at Mary expectantly.

"Oh…well this wasn't really a planned visit. I was on my way to Greenwich so thought I'd make a little pit-stop in Clapham and say 'hello'!" Mary replied breezily. She noticed Matthew's eyebrow raise slightly at her lie. He was rather impressed.

"That's so nice!" Lavinia responded enthusiastically. She looked up at Matthew. Matthew managed a small smile, before he cleared his throat somewhat uneasily.

"Yes, that's lovely" he replied, but Mary could sense the edge to his tone. "Lavinia and I were just going to spend the afternoon together, so…we'll see you around." Matthew said as he put his key in the front door and began ushering Lavinia through it.

"Oh no, Mary must come in for a bit! It's been so long since I've seen her, and it must have been a while since the two of you last met! And she's come all the way over here." Mary noticed Matthew gulp uncomfortably at Lavinia's innocence.

"It's fine, I don't want to intrude on your time. I didn't realise Matthew would be with you." Mary finished, ensuring her words were coated in an accusatory tone. Matthew kissed her with unmistakeable passion last night, and the first thing he does the next day is run to Lavinia?

Feeling Lavinia staring at him expectantly, and not wishing his behaviour to appear suspicious, Matthew felt the need to say, "Nonsense, it won't be an intrusion. You can join us for a bit." He avoided looking at Mary as he said this, though, knowing that she'd be able to detect his insincerity. He really did not want to see her today, or for a while. Why had she come here? If she so much as hinted in front of Lavinia that anything had happened between them the previous night…God help him. He stepped aside, letting the two other sides to this triangle he'd suddenly found himself in enter his flat.

The first twenty minutes of Mary's stay comprised mostly of uncomfortable silence. Lavinia had run out of polite questions to ask Mary, Mary couldn't bring herself to make proper conversation with Lavinia (given what she'd done with Lavinia's boyfriend not even 24 hours earlier) and Matthew remained almost completely silent, his gaze and words directed solely at Lavinia.

Mary was infuriated. How _dare_ he treat her like this! He wasn't even looking at her. Every time she spoke, she noticed him physically flinch. She'd only visited because she felt it was necessary for the two of them to sit and discuss what had happened. How could he not agree? Did he plan on simply pretending that the kiss had never happened? Did he want to pretend that Mary didn't even exist?

Matthew's discomfort was rising exponentially. He could feel the daggers that Mary was throwing at him with her eyes. He knew that he was being incredibly rude, and it probably wasn't fair to be this cold to her, given that they'd played an equal part in what had happened, but he couldn't risk looking at her or speaking to her. Not while Lavinia was in the room.

"Well, I'll go and make some tea, then, shall I?" Lavinia suggested softly as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen. Mary surmised that she just wanted an excuse to escape the unbearable awkwardness in the living room. As soon as she saw the kitchen door close, Mary picked up the nearest cushion and flung it violently at Matthew's head.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" She hissed at him, struggling to keep her voice low. "What are you so angry about?"

"What am _I_ angry about?" Matthew whispered back as he massaged his head, his agitation clear. "_I'm_ not the one who just hurled a pillow at your head!"

"From the moment you saw me outside, you've been upset about something. I can see it." Mary stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. There wasn't time to debate something so obvious; there were so many other things that needed to be cleared up. "I only came here to talk about what happened last night. How was I supposed to know you'd be with Lavinia?" She asked, exasperated. "How was I supposed to know that you would rather see her first than speak about it with me?"

Matthew felt his anger subside slightly. Of course she'd only come over to talk about what happened. Deep down he knew that she hadn't intended on causing him any further problems- she wouldn't have even expected him to be with Lavinia. Nevertheless, this was not a conversation he either wanted to have or was ready to have. "Look, we can't talk about this now," Matthew began, nervously glancing over his shoulder towards the kitchen door. "But you have to understand that I'm with Lavinia. You can't expect me to throw that all away." He said, still avoiding Mary's eyes. He was too afraid to look at her properly. He felt like he'd got this problem more-or-less sorted in his head, after his talk with Tom. Looking at Mary, reminding himself of what they'd done- it might throw him off course again. He needed to be strong. "So I think it would be best if you just leave." He added, his gaze trained on the rug near his feet.

Mary's eyes widened in shock. Did he think she had come over to beg him to leave Lavinia and be with her? What an arrogant prick. "What on Earth makes you think I was going to ask you to break up with your girlfriend? You think I came here to throw myself at you? Do you really think I feel that strongly about you?" Mary said defensively, ignoring the challenging voice in her head that answered those questions affirmatively. She felt that admitting her feelings to him would give him the upper-hand and somehow compromise her self-respect. She'd never revealed her feelings before the object of her affection revealed his feelings to her, and she wasn't about to start now. Besides, Matthew was being so obnoxious at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to take him down a peg or two.

"Well you threw yourself at me last night, who's to say you wouldn't do it again?" Matthew replied, now looking directly at her, almost surprising himself at the coldness and disdain in his tone. He was searching for any way to make Mary leave, so he wouldn't have to deal with this issue anymore. The words he came up with were harsh and unfair, but he almost didn't care.

He couldn't ignore the feeling of guilt, however, when he noticed Mary's eyes become glassy with tears. He'd accused her of flinging herself at an attached man, and suggested that she was capable of doing it again. He'd essentially implied that she was something of a home-wrecker.

Mary stood up slowly, clutching her handbag. She didn't want to be here any longer. Not with a man who clearly had no respect for her and couldn't even bear to be in her presence. Without a word, she walked past Matthew and out of the front door.

_I hope you're not too mad at Matthew! He does have his reasons for being douche-y, which I've tried to make clear._

_I know you all lead busy lives, but if you could drop me a line just to mention a particular line etc that you enjoyed, or something that you didn't like, it will let me know if I'm on the right track! xxx_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: thanks again for your continued support! I'm glad so many people are enjoying the story :)_

"Where did Mary go?" Lavinia called to Matthew, as she struggled to make her way through the kitchen door with three mugs of tea in her hands. "I heard the front door close a minute ago."

Matthew rose from his chair to help Lavinia with the steaming mugs. "She had to leave, something came up. Not sure what, though. I should probably invest in some sort of tea-tray, shouldn't I?" He digressed with a light chuckle, hoping Lavinia would accept Mary's sudden disappearance without further questioning. Luckily for him, she merely looked slightly perplexed but was happy to discuss various other utensils which Matthew's kitchen was in desperate need of.

Lavinia stayed for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Having recently completed her PGCE, she was fortunate enough to immediately find a job teaching Year 6 pupils in a primary school in North London, and was currently making full use of the opportunity to tell her boyfriend all about her wonderful class and show him pictures of the papier-mâché Egyptian pharaoh masks they'd made on Thursday.

Matthew remained largely quiet during Lavinia's stories and ramblings, smiling fondly at her liveliness. It was a part of their relationship which he greatly appreciated- both of them being so passionate about their careers. He liked having a girlfriend who was so enthusiastic about her job, and even though Lavinia's new job meant she was now away from South London (and from him) for the majority of the week, Matthew was happy for her.

These pleasant thoughts were, however, continually pierced by sharp stabs of guilt. He felt like a cheat, like one of those footballers you read about in tabloids, like some kind of devious evil spirit. He discreetly looked at his watch- _this time yesterday I was dancing with Mary, about to kiss her_, he thought, recalling his glance at the clock the previous evening. _And now I'm sitting with my girlfriend, pretending to attentively listen to her enthuse about her job, playing the good boyfriend, acting perfectly innocent_.

Those pangs of guilt, which seemed years old now, were overlaid with fresher ones, springing from his treatment of Mary earlier that day. He'd only seen her cry once before, and that was after an argument with her parents over what she should do with her life; he'd found her sobbing in one of the corridors of her house, despairing over what was to become of her and if she would ever be happy. If it took that much to make her cry, Matthew thought, his words must have really hurt her. But he had no idea how to make amends; he imagined Mary would (rightly) be furious with him, plus any apology to her would necessarily be followed by a discussion of the events of Saturday night. Which is why Matthew was determined to continue to avoid Mary as much as he possibly could.

He knew it was extremely unfair to her; as he'd said to Tom, although she technically initiated the kiss, in reality he was at least half-responsible, given that he'd made every effort throughout the evening to get close to her. Furthermore, Mary had done the right thing by wanting to talk about it the next day. She'd gone straight to him without speaking to anyone else about it. Matthew, on the other hand, had given Tom all the gory details before running into Lavinia's open, unknowing, arms. Still, he told himself, he couldn't handle seeing Mary until he figured out what he wanted. For the moment, he believed that staying with Lavinia in their cosy and gentle relationship was the best course of action (or, rather, inaction).

But could he really continue on without telling Lavinia about the kiss? Was it truly so insignificant to him that it didn't even warrant a mention? He'd certainly deemed it significant enough to share with Tom- didn't that mean something? Matthew's mind was growing weary with all these unanswered questions. Maybe he should take a holiday to get some distance from his self-inflicted problems…

"Matthew?" Lavinia's hand touched his, shaking him out of his cocoon of confusion, into which he'd settled so well over the past 24 hours.

"Sorry, what?" Matthew realised he had no idea what Lavinia had been talking about for the last five minutes.

"I just asked what you thought." Lavinia replied, her expression slightly concerned at the blank look on her boyfriend's face. "Do you think the Toy Museum would be better than the British Museum?" Matthew began to shift nervously, his eyes darting around. He didn't want his 'good boyfriend' façade to slip. "For the school trip?" Lavinia helpfully provided.

"Oh, that! Well…I think the British Museum has more to offer, and they still have that Egyptian mummy on display, which would tie in nicely with what you've been doing in class." Matthew finished off smoothly, impressed with himself for recovering so well (or, at least, better than he usually would). _Being with Mary so much must have helped me become a smoother talker_, he mused, before immediately berating himself. _Stop thinking about flipping Mary Crawley, you piece of scum_.

And so poor, tormented Matthew battled his way through the evening with his girlfriend, forcing the self-reproach to his subconscious (where it would inevitably harass him while he slept that night) as Lavinia shyly leant forward to kiss him, her hands settling on his firm chest. Matthew was actually somewhat placated by the kiss, as it affirmed that he did still harbour feelings for her and gave him confidence that he could push forward and put the whole 'Mary' incident behind him. He tried to pour every ounce of affection that he could muster into the kiss, to persuade Lavinia that her boyfriend still loved her, and to persuade himself that was still the same 'Matthew' he'd always presumed himself to be. However, his attempts at persuasion faltered as soon as Lavinia pulled away to begin undoing her blouse. A part of Matthew's mind questioned whether he'd be able to do this, whether he was in a fit state of mind, whether doing this would make him an even worse person. The larger part of Matthew's mind, however, told him that he _needed_ to do this, to confirm that he _could_ continue the life he'd led before last night. So he smiled softly at Lavinia as he reached for her belt…

Matthew opened his eyes and turned his head to look across the bed. Lavinia had fallen asleep. After slowly extricating his hand from hers, he stared up the ceiling. He felt cleansed, in a way. It had been comfortable, familiar, and uncomplicated. _Like our relationship_, he supposed. He knew he could always rely on Lavinia to make him feel loved.

Yet, he found himself wondering- if Robert and Cora hadn't come home early, would he have lain in bed with Mary last night, like this? He inwardly cursed the traffic from London to Plymouth.

Mary idly flipped the pages of her magazine, uninterested in the haute-couture gowns that graced its pages. Today was passing by _very_ slowly. Sighing from boredom, she casually flung the magazine onto the coffee table and glanced at her legs, outstretched on the sofa. _Maybe I should get a pedicure today_, she considered as she noticed her chipped nail polish. _Actually_- _no. That would involve going outside_.

Mary had spent all of Monday determinedly perusing the internet for job offers, sending off a personal record of four applications in a day, as well as a fruitful shopping trip to the King's Road and a relaxing facial. After spending all of Sunday evening locked in her room, alternately fuming and sobbing over Matthew's callous treatment of her, on Monday morning she awoke with a renewed fiery spirit, and decided to waste no more tears or time on that obnoxious fool. _I am Mary Crawley and I do not need a man to feel good about myself_.

Come Tuesday morning, however, it was a struggle for Mary to even get out of bed. A new tide of despondency washed over her. She didn't want to do any more job applications; there was no point- she was clueless as to what she wanted to do with her life. She didn't want to go out and pamper herself; there was no point- there was no man in her life to impress, and there probably never would be, at this rate.

Then she realised- over the last few months, every time she'd felt a burst of motivation to find herself a job, or to enrich her life somehow, Matthew had been the cause of it. She hated to even acknowledge it, but whether it was to catch his attention and impress him, or to shut him up and prove him wrong, the only thing that would definitely inspire Mary to take control of her life was Matthew Crawley. _Even yesterday_, she told herself, _the only reason you were so zealous about life was because you wanted the chance to show him what he was missing out on_.

Since she'd realised this at breakfast, her mind was once again filled with thoughts of Matthew. Did he really think she was trying to lure him away from Lavinia? Had he lost all respect for her? But why had he kissed her back with such passion? What had he and Lavinia gotten up to after she left? Mary cringed at the thought. Most importantly of all- why did this situation bother her this much? She'd met her fair share of idiotic men before; she'd even dated one of them when she was nineteen, only to find out the relationship wasn't as exclusive as she'd presumed. Yet, even that hadn't troubled her as much as this. Surely her feelings for Matthew can't be _this_ strong? Maybe she was being overly-emotional because it was her time of the month soon? Mary began doing a quick mental calculation…

"You look like such a slob!" Sybil, now home for the summer holidays, laughed as she noticed her eldest sister dressed in a baggy top, leggings and fluffy socks. "It's about 25 degrees outside- why are you in socks, for heaven's sake?" She gestured to Mary to move her feet away so that she could sit down next to her. Mary lazily obliged.

"I'm not in a very 'go get 'em' mood today, Sybil." Mary replied softly, earning a look of concern from her youngest sister. Sybil rarely saw her looking so downcast.

"What's the matter?" Sybil knew she was unlikely to receive a proper response- Mary was famously guarded with her emotions, preferring instead to confide in her diary if she was having a bad day.

"Nothing really, I'm just not feeling too well today." Came the predictably evasive reply. "What are you doing today?" Mary hoped Sybil's answer would miraculously inject some enthusiasm into her to do something productive.

"I'm meeting a few friends in Hyde Park and then I've got a date in the evening." Sybil said excitedly.

"Oh, have you, darling?" Their mother's voice enquired, startling them both. Cora had a talent at picking up on any mention of 'boys' or 'dates' by her daughters, and apparating to wherever the conversation was taking place.

"Er…it's not really a proper 'date' as such, but-"

"Who is it with?" Cora cut off her daughter's feeble attempts at undermining the situation.

"A friend of Josie's." Sybil's reply was purposely vague.

"What does he do?" Cora had learnt to be patient when extracting information from her daughters about who they were seeing.

"I'm not sure about precisely what he does…" Sybil attempts to evade answering the questions were admirable, but Cora's expression made it clear that they were futile. Sybil wore a look of resignation. "He's a security guard." Seeing her mother's horror-stricken face, she hastily added "But he works in a law firm! A really good law firm, in the City!" Fortunately for Sybil, the housekeeper came in at that exact moment, informing Sybil that a package had arrived for her at the front door. She looked at her mother expectantly, the relief clear on her face.

"Go and see to that. But we're definitely going to be continuing this conversation later." Cora said, in her characteristic soft-but-firm tone which only her daughters had the privilege of hearing. Sybil stood up and left the room, her mouth in a petulant little pout.

Cora rolled her eyes and looked at Mary. "Honestly, I don't know what she's thinking, fooling around with these boys. She knows its wholly inappropriate!"

Mary was most definitely not in the mood for a conversation about boys, especially inappropriate ones. She remained silent, hoping her mother would pick up on this and drop the subject. Unfortunately, Mary's silence only served as an open platform for Cora to continue ranting about Sybil's choice in men.

"No matter how many times I explain what sort of man she should be aiming for, she wants to seek out the uneducated, ill-mannered ones, knowing your father and I won't approve." Cora sighed as she set about arranging the pillows on the settees. The housekeeper never could do it correctly.

This comment piqued Mary's interest. "So…are you saying that if a man is educated and well-mannered, he's suitable?" She asked as innocently as she could.

"Well, there are other factors to consider as well, Mary." Cora chuckled, as if this point was so obvious that it was ridiculous of Mary to think otherwise.

"Yes, of course, the money and the social-standing." Mary said drily as she rolled her eyes. "What if he had a good, professional job, and was well-respected amongst people in our social circle?"

Cora stopped what she was doing and looked at Mary suspiciously. "Who do you have in mind?" Mary could tell she'd tried to conceal the enormous curiosity that she felt. Despite her vagueness, this was the most candid that Mary had ever been about men, when speaking with Cora. Cora had a strong feeling that her daughter had her eye on somebody.

"Nobody in particular, I was just asking generally. For future reference." Mary said as nonchalantly as she could. She saw her mother raise an eyebrow at her- an eyebrow that seemed to say 'I am well aware that you are lying to me'. "_Really_." Mary said firmly.

"Well, again, it would all depend. Someone like James Chamberlain would be fine- the family's money doesn't go back very far but his father used to work in the same hedge fund as your father. He's well-travelled and just finished his CFA, so he'll be earning at least £100,000 a year from now on. And he always makes an appearance at all the society parties and networking events, so he's definitely got a bright future ahead of him." Cora finished. Sensing that this wasn't the answer that Mary was searching for, she continued slowly, her eyes fixed intently on Mary's expression. "Whereas someone like _Matthew_ wouldn't be acceptable."

Mary couldn't prevent her eyes from darting up to meet her mother's. "Why not?" She exclaimed.

"Is there something going on between you and Matthew, Mary?" There was that soft-but-firm tone again, except it was slightly heavy on the 'firm' part. Cora's hand was on her hip and she gazed down at her daughter.

"No, of course not." Mary said dismissively, trying to make her mother's accusation sound preposterous. "But there are so many more men like Matthew than there are like James Chamberlain. I just think it would be a good idea for us to broaden our horizons." She stated simply. "It's not like Matthew's some kind of layabout idiot who wouldn't be able to support a family. Why is he so objectionable? I mean, why are men like him so objectionable…" Mary immediately corrected herself, annoyed that she was focussing on him so much.

The look of suspicion on Cora's face had not left. In fact, it had intensified. "We all know Matthew is a lovely young man, and he's doing well for himself, all things considered. But he's not from the same sort of background as us, Mary. That's what's important. You might not realise it now, but once you settle down you'll see that having the same upbringing and moving in the same social circles is _very_ important in a marriage. It's what keeps you together. It's what makes your family a success. You have to consider the future of this family, of your children and descendents." Cora took the opportunity to dispense her advice, not being used to having Mary as a receptive audience.

"But surely what keeps two people together in a relationship is mutual respect, and friendship…and love?" Mary had made similar points to her parents before, but they'd usually been communicated in a much, much less disciplined tone. "You and Dad grew up in completely different countries, and you're still together!"

"We may have grown up in different places, but our breeding was very similar." Cora gave Mary a pointed look, warning her not to roll her eyes or make a sarcastic comment. Mary had always hated the word 'breeding'- it made her feel like a Labrador. "It helped us overcome all our other differences, because we understood each other. And your father appreciated that I knew how to speak to his colleagues, I knew how to look after the household, I knew how he wanted his children to be raised. And I appreciated similar things in him. We're a different type of family, Mary; we're subjected to much more scrutiny than the average family."

"We're not famous, Mum." Mary pointed out. She'd always felt that her parents were much more worried about their reputation than they needed to be. Her father was CEO of one of the country's leading investment banks, Crawley's, continuing the Crawley family's long tradition of working in the finance sector (one of Mary's ancestors had been Governor of the Bank of England in the nineteenth century). Last year, Robert's older brother passed away, bequeathing ownership of his group of luxury confectionary businesses to Robert; not being one to shirk responsibility, Robert refused to sell the businesses, instead maintaining a consultative role as a non-executive director of the parent company. He was, therefore, a very busy and successful man. However, anyone who didn't read the FT or the business section of national newspapers (which, let's face it, is most people), would probably have no idea who they were. "I highly doubt anybody's life would be drastically altered if I married someone 'middle class'. Besides, that whole notion of 'class' is dying out now."

"Maybe so. But it still makes sense to marry what you know. What if your father wanted to hand ownership of the businesses to his son-in-law, your husband? Would a teacher or a pharmacist be able to handle that? I'm _not_ saying that there's anything at all wrong with those jobs, or with people who weren't privately educated or people who aren't wealthy. People like Matthew are wonderful to have as friends and contacts. But," she emphasised, "what I am saying is that, for a _marriage_, and to continue _this_ family, those people just wouldn't be suitable. I'm afraid that's just the way it is." Cora stroked her finger down her daughter's cheek, seeing that she was unhappy with what she'd been told. "I know you think you won't find anyone like that who you truly like, but you needn't worry." She said comfortingly, not knowing what other troubles were plaguing her daughter's mind. "You have a queue of men waiting to get the chance to even speak to you. And you still have a few years to make your choice." Cora laughed lightly. "I'm not worried about you, darling. It's your sisters who are causing me concern."

As if on cue, Sybil returned to the living room, in the process of putting on a jacket. Evidently, she'd hoped her mother would have left by now. Her mouth reverted back to its previous pout as she saw that Cora was in fact ready and waiting to continue their conversation. Cora and Sybil were staring at each other so intently that neither of them noticed Mary silently wipe away a tear.

_A/N: poor Mary! But do we feel sorry for Matthew too? Or is he still being a bit of an idiot?_

_The next chapter sees M&M meet for the first time since their rather tense encounter in the last chapter!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: thanks again for your support, guys! I know you've been awaiting M&M's post-argument meeting, so here it is…_

"Why don't you stay for dinner, Matthew? Greta's made her delicious roast pork dish, and it's always so filling that it takes us days to finish! So there'll be plenty to go around." Robert chuckled good-naturedly. "And in any case, it's been a while since Sybil and Edith have seen you."

Matthew smiled back nervously. Robert had called him on Friday, asking if he could possibly pop over on Saturday afternoon to briefly go through would need to be done if Robert wanted to lease his Green Park property. Finding himself unable to come up with a good excuse to say no (perhaps spending time with Mary hadn't helped him become a smooth talker), he reluctantly agreed. Some higher being had graciously sent Mary off to the spa with her sisters, though, so Matthew had been able to speak with Robert without having to constantly worry about her walking in. if he stayed for dinner, however, he would definitely have to see her.

It had been a week since their kiss, but he was still none-the-wiser about his feelings for Mary. His relationship with Lavinia was fine, although by the time she returned to South London, after clearing up at school and taking two tubes down, she only spared an hour or so for Matthew in the evenings, as she usually wanted to stay in at her flat to prepare her lessons for the next day. Realising he didn't have time to stand and ponder the pros and cons of each potential answer to Robert's offer, Matthew accepted. _Maybe it would be a good setting in which to see Mary,_ he thought. He still felt awful about what he said to her on Sunday afternoon, and wanted to apologise. Moreover, if they saw each other in the context of a family dinner, he might be able to apologise quickly and avoid any further conversation about the kiss.

"Brilliant." Robert beamed. "Mary said the girls will be back by 6pm, so we can eat in about half an hour. That reminds me, have you spoken to Mary recently? She went out somewhere on Sunday and since she came back she's been a bit all over the place. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Matthew swallowed uneasily. He had quite a good idea what the problem was, but there was no way on Earth he was going to tell Mary's father about it. "No, I haven't spoken to her since Saturday." Matthew replied. _That was mostly true_, he thought. _We didn't so much 'speak' to each other on Sunday as 'hiss' at each other_.

"Oh, well, I suppose young women go through these phases sometimes. But if you get the chance to speak at dinner, do try and ask her if everything's alright, will you? I'm sure she'd be willing to speak to you about whatever it is." Robert smiled, patting Matthew on the back genially, not realising that his last comment made Matthew feel a bit sick. _She __had__ been willing to speak to me about it, but I insulted her and drove her away_. He needed to apologise to her as soon as he could.

Matthew sat at the dining table with Robert and Cora, listening to Robert proudly talk about Edith's new job as an engineer with Rolls Royce. He noticed Cora was quieter than usual, and she seemed to be watching him quite intently, for some reason. Was it a mother's intuition? Could she somehow tell that he'd wronged her daughter? He tensed even more as he saw the dining room door open. This was it. He felt like he'd been waiting for this moment his entire life. Sybil walked through the door, with Edith closely behind.

"Matthew!" Sybil exclaimed, bounding towards him and enveloping him in a tight hug before he could even stand up to meet her. He greeted both sisters with hugs as he heard Robert explain to them why Matthew was here.

"Where's Mary?" Cora asked the girls. Matthew was glad she did. He couldn't tell if he wanted Mary to be otherwise engaged or not- now that their meeting was imminent, he felt very nervous. God, was he certain of any of his emotions anymore? He looked at Sybil and Edith as they took their seats, eager to hear their response.

"She should be just-" Edith began, but stopped mid-sentence. Matthew quickly looked around for a clue as to why, and froze when he saw Mary standing in the open doorway, looking directly at him. She had an expression on her face which was probably very similar to the one he wore when he found her at his flat on Sunday, Matthew supposed. In short, she was not pleased to see him.

"Oh Mary, there you are! Come and sit down, darling, we're all very hungry." Robert said, completely oblivious to the tension between his daughter and his legal adviser as he started greedily eyeing up the dishes on the table.

Matthew watched Mary silently walk to her seat, diagonally across from him. He tried to catch her eye again, to offer a smile, but she seemed determined not to look at him.

Dinner passed without much consequence. Nobody really noticed the distinct lack of communication between Mary and Matthew- they were sitting quite far apart from each other, and they all knew Mary had been in a strange mood recently, so her not speaking to someone wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Cora, however, did make it a point to glance between the two of them from time to time, to see if there was anything suspicious going on. Deep down she believed there probably was no secret romance between the two of them, but after Mary's curious questions a few days ago, she wanted to make sure.

Mary could feel Matthew's eyes on her periodically throughout dinner. It became unbearable. She finally looked up at him to see what he wanted. He smiled shyly, his eyes twinkling at her. She'd forgotten how blue they were- she hadn't properly looked at them since last week- when she was in his arms, as he'd leaned in, slowly licking his lips…

She saw Matthew then turn to her father and say something which clearly interested the older man. She had a feeling it had something to do with her.

Once the plates were cleared, Robert announced that there was a phonecall he needed to make, and everybody took this as their cue to leave. Mary immediately rose from her chair and headed towards the door. She cursed herself for not being hasty enough, however, when Robert called after her.

"Matthew mentioned to me earlier that there's an opening in his office for a paralegal-type role. Apparently a law degree isn't essential for the work they want done, so he wanted to speak to you about it." Seeing Mary's unimpressed expression, but not knowing the reason behind it, he added, "I think it sounds like a good opportunity for you, even if it's a temporary job. I suggest you stay behind and hear what he has to say." Robert said kindly, but leaving no room for discussion.

Mary surveyed the room; Edith and Sybil had left promptly after saying their goodbyes to Matthew (Sybil was no doubt running upstairs to make one of her mysterious phonecalls), as had Robert. Cora hesitated before leaving, but was called away by the housekeeper who was having problems with the dishwasher. Finally, she turned to Matthew, her arms crossed, her expression stony.

Matthew let out a shaky breath. Mary clearly wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"There actually isn't a job to tell you about…I made that up because I wanted to talk to you." Matthew began, slowly.

"Of course you made it up." Mary snapped. "You've become quite the master of insincerity, haven't you?" Her rhetorical question was delivered with a thick, icy coating.

Matthew looked down at the table. He felt ashamed of himself. Aside from anything else, Mary had become one of his closest friends, and he'd hurt her. He nodded twice, as if agreeing with her statement. "I deserved that." He said quietly.

He didn't see, but Mary's expression softened at that. It was obvious from his demeanour that he was contrite. Nevertheless, Mary wanted him to know just how much he'd upset her.

"What are you doing here, Matthew? I always thought of you as being quite a 'simple fellow', as my Dad puts it, but I'm really finding it difficult to understand you. You came over to stay last week, flirted with me, teased me, _kissed_ me…" Mary paused as she tried to push back the feelings of desire which always surfaced whenever she thought about that kiss. "You left without saying anything about it- I know I didn't say anything either, but I tried to the next day, only for you to brush me off."

Matthew was considering interrupting her at this point, but he decided against it. Mary was like a steam-train, and he didn't feel like jumping onto the tracks and getting run over (although he felt like he was getting run over anyway).

"But evidently you weren't content with just giving me the cold-shoulder," Mary stormed ahead, her voice growing steadily fiercer, "so you thought you'd belittle me and make me feel like shit just because I had played a part in what happened. You spoke to me and looked at me like I was some kind of slut who wasn't even worthy of your time, like a toxin that you had to shield yourself from. Well, it wasn't all me, Matthew. I'm _not_ going to let you pretend that you were completely innocent in all of this and make me the bad guy." She'd run out of breath. Stopping to collect herself, she realised she was shaking- from anger as well as from the relief of venting after almost a week of keeping these feelings bottled up.

Matthew hadn't blinked for the duration of Mary's rant. He knew he'd insulted her, but he certainly hadn't realised just how harsh he'd been. Shaking his head sorrowfully, he took a small step towards her.

"God, Mary. I'm so, so sorry. I honestly didn't intend to hurt your feelings. All I was thinking about on Sunday was how I didn't want to deal with what had happened. I was confused, and I thought I was being strong by ploughing ahead with my life and going to see Lavinia and pretending everything was fine. I can see now that I was, in fact, being a massive coward. So maybe it's a good thing nobody did break in on Saturday night." He smiled at her, but quickly realised his joke had fallen flat. Maybe it was too soon for jokes. "But, anyway…you did the right thing by coming to see me and I'm quite frankly embarrassed by how I reacted. I'm sorry for ignoring you, and I'm _so_ sorry for the things I said. I want you to know that I absolutely don't see you as a 'toxin' or a…slut." He finished quietly, hating that she'd used that word in relation to herself. "I'm full of respect for you. You're one of my best friends and I really hope I haven't done anything to damage that. It's been eating me up inside all week, but I never found the right way to apologise to you. Hopefully I haven't left it too late." His eyes were questioning- could she forgive him?

Mary's heart swelled as he spoke. It wasn't that his words were romantic, but she could tell from his tone and from the way he was looking at her that he meant every word he said, and that he truly did value their relationship…whatever their relationship was. This thought reminded Mary that the apology was only half of what they needed to discuss.

"No, I don't think you have." Mary responded softly. She playfully checked her watch and added, "But if you'd left it till 8.30 then it definitely would have been too late."

Matthew laughed as he filled with relief. He'd been worried that their friendship had been irreparably damaged; they'd bickered plenty of times before, of course, but that had been their first serious dispute, where feelings had been hurt. He was about to retort when he saw her shift awkwardly on her feet.

"So," Mary began, "I think we've settled what happened on Sunday. But about Saturday night…" she trailed off, feeling herself blush at the mention of it.

"Oh, right…" Matthew was equally uneasy about the impending conversation. He wracked his mind for something to say, but could think of nothing. The two newly-reconciled friends avoided eye contact, Matthew's shifty eyes working in overdrive and Mary wringing her hands together nervously.

Mary could feel the tension mounting. Before it became intolerable, Mary decided to break it. "I'm guessing that since you…" She started, then stopped to consider how best to phrase what she wanted to say. _There is no easy way to say this_. "You went back to Lavinia. You've stayed with her. So, I'm guessing that you want to move past it?" It had pained Mary to see Matthew by Lavinia's side, having her over at his flat, the day after they kissed. She didn't know what exactly she'd been hoping for, but she'd presumed that Matthew had _some_ feelings for her. Seeing him with Lavinia made her doubt that.

"I thought that might be best..." Matthew said uncertainly, trying to read Mary's expression. Was she happy that he'd stayed with Lavinia? Maybe she saw the kiss as an impulsive mistake and was relieved that he hadn't pursued it. Nevertheless, he didn't want to say he was going to stay with Lavinia indefinitely, in case that prevented Mary from admitting her feelings to him. He knew how proud Mary was- she'd never tell him that she felt anything for him if he'd already made it clear there was no possibility of them being together. "But, what do you think?" He continued watching her closely, searching for any signs of her emotions.

Mary could almost physically feel the gaze from his beautiful eyes on her, and it was making her feel rather gelatinous inside. She tore her eyes away from his attractive face in the hope that she'd be able to formulate a coherent response to his question.

"I…" She didn't like that he'd put the ball in her court. How could she admit how she felt about him now, after he'd openly said that staying with Lavinia would be best for him? After her mother told her that she and her father would disapprove if Mary was with Matthew? "I agree. It's probably best to put it behind us." She said, unknowingly echoing Tom's advice. "I think we probably both had a momentary lapse in judgment." She smiled at him, hoping that saying those words aloud would make them true.

"That's probably what it was." Matthew smiled back, but thought he detected a lack of conviction behind her words.

_A/N: hmm. So does Matthew secretly think that Mary fancies him? Was his apology adequate? Was Mary a bit silly for not revealing her true feelings?_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: in case you're wondering how/why I'm updating so quickly- I'd practically written most of the chapters over the last few weeks, so all I'm doing is revising and tweaking them as I update. I won't be able to update in two weeks' time though, for a few weeks, so I'm trying to get everything published before then! _

…

Matthew carefully shut the living room door behind him as he resumed his phone conversation in the hallway. He and Lavinia had been watching 'Matilda', her favourite film, when his phone rang. It was a long-term client of his firm's, John Cole, enquiring after Mary Crawley. Mr Cole was a newspaper and magazine proprietor, is most well-known publication being 'Society'- a high quality, quarterly magazine which featured articles ranging from reports on New York Fashion Week, to the effect of the recession on the property market in England's wealthiest locations. Apparently Mary had applied to him for a position as a junior researcher, which Matthew wasn't surprised to hear. It wouldn't put her Land Economy degree from Cambridge to much use, but it was the sort of job that she could thrive in. Mr Cole had wanted to know if she was any relation to Matthew (his favourite solicitor) - they had, after all, gone to the same university two years apart.

"No, no" Matthew laughed, "Many people presume that. But I actually do know her. She's a good friend of mine."

"Oh, marvellous." Mr Cole's deep voice boomed down the phone. "You're not down as a referee of hers, but I'd love to know your opinion all the same. If she's anything like you then we'll snap her up in a heartbeat!"

Matthew laughed again, although it was slightly forced (Mr Cole was a jolly, ebullient man and Matthew always felt the need to try and match his propensity to laugh). He sensed an opportunity to help Mary secure a job that she would actually enjoy, and wanted to do whatever he could. He and Mary had been back on good terms over the two weeks since they made amends. There had been no mention of or allusion to the kiss, making Matthew glad that he'd chosen to stay with Lavinia- he was obviously wrong in thinking that Mary might have feelings for him. He'd not seen her since his dinner at her house, as he'd been swamped at the office and was spending more time with Lavinia, now that she'd settled into her job; but they phoned and texted frequently, and Matthew was glad that the dust had settled and things were back to normal.

"I've never worked with her before, but I can tell you that she is incredibly intelligent. She absorbs things like a sponge and is somehow always two steps ahead of everyone else. I think she would be a real asset to your company." Matthew began enthusiastically, as he paced up and down the small corridor.

"High praise, indeed! She did do rather well at school and university, but she hasn't got very much experience in a working environment, considering she's been graduated for three years. Her only proper job was acting as her father's PA. That's my only concern. Otherwise, she's at the top of the pile!"

"Oh, that's not for lack of trying." Matthew assured, "I'm sure you know better than most people how tough the job market has been recently, especially with the backlog of graduates trying to find employment." Hearing the man's murmurs of agreement, he continued, "But she still managed to secure three or four internships at a variety of companies, and although they're not _directly_ relevant to what you do, I think it shows her determination to gain as much experience as possible. After all, I remember you once telling me that the best journalists are those who have experienced life, not those who have merely experienced journalism." Matthew allowed his long-dormant advocacy skills to flourish. "Plus, being a PA to Robert Crawley is no mean feat. He's almost as busy and successful as you are, sir!" Matthew joked, knowing that a bit of flattery would go down well with the journalism tycoon. He received an earful of a hearty guffaw down the phone.

"I can certainly believe that! Very well, very well. This all sounds extremely promising. Now, given that you know her as a friend, it would be foolish of me not to ask- what is she like as a person? I've tried to cultivate a certain kind of atmosphere in my company, as I've mentioned in the past, and I need someone who can fit in with that. I also don't want someone who's going to sit and blindly obey directions from their superiors. They need to have a kind of spark about them. I want someone atypical."

"That's Mary all over." Matthew enthused, "I don't think I've met anybody else like her. She has this fire inside of her, this unique quality. You can see it through her wit, her tenacity. She's humble enough to know that she has more to learn, but she's definitely confident enough to make her ideas heard. It's hard to describe, but I guarantee that you'll take to her, sir. I can't imagine why you wouldn't."

"She sounds like an absolute treasure, Matthew!" The loudness of Mr Cole's voice seemed to correlate with his interest in what Matthew was saying. Matthew had to hold the phone away from his ear.

"She certainly is that. And the best part is, I don't think she realises how incredible she is. So I would advise you to snap her up before she does realise!" He joked again, glad that his efforts of persuasion were successful.

"Thanks for the tip!" Mr Cole howled. Matthew made a mental note to ask Lavinia to check if his ear-drum had been punctured. "Oh, goodness me, I've just realised it's a Saturday. I'm in the office at the moment, going through applications - you know what they say, no rest for the wicked! It completely slipped my mind that it's the weekend. So sorry to bother you on your day off."

"No problem at all, anything I can do to help." Matthew replied. As fond as he was of his client, however, his real motivation had been to help Mary. He'd always seen great potential in her, which he was sure she was unaware of, and he wanted to help her realise it.

"You're a good man. Anyway, I must ring off now. But thanks ever so much for your help, I'll contact her on Monday, and I'm sure I'll speak to you soon."

"Of course, take care, sir." Matthew waited to hear the dial-tone before he set his phone down, pleased with himself. Turning around to go back inside, he saw Lavinia standing in the doorway. "Oh, hello. Is the film finished?" He asked, secretly hoping that it had finished. Matilda is a delightful story, when you're a child, but he didn't much fancy watching it repeatedly now that he was in his mid-twenties.

"No, I just came out to ask you if you wanted some tea." Lavinia replied quietly. "Who were you talking to about Mary?" She didn't do very well at concealing her jealousy.

"One of the firm's clients called, saying Mary had applied to his company. He wanted to know what I thought about her, so I just said whatever I could to help her get a job. She's been unemployed for months now." Matthew tried to appeal to Lavinia's compassionate nature.

"But she brought that on herself, didn't she?" Lavinia was apparently not in a compassionate mood at the moment.

Matthew thought back to what Lavinia must have heard him say about Mary. He could understand her concern. "She quit working for Robert because she didn't want to get too comfortable in that job. She wanted to find her own path and not rely so much on her parents. I think that's understandable."

"So instead she's relying on you to get her jobs?" This was probably the most uptight Matthew had ever seen his girlfriend. Luckily, Matthew knew her well enough to know how to appease her.

"Lavinia," He said softly as he brought his arms around her. "You know I'm just trying to help out a friend. Mary doesn't know I helped." He gave her a small kiss on her nose. "Besides," he whispered, "there are plenty of good things that I could say about _you_ if somebody asked me. Things that only I know about." This drew a giggle from Lavinia as she batted him away and returned to the living room, and to that bloody DVD.

Matthew's return to Matilda was delayed by a message alert on his phone. It was from Mary.

_Matthew, I am bored of being unemployed. I don't want to live in a world where Edith is able to go shopping more often than I am. Help me!_

He chuckled at her text. He could practically hear her droll tone emanating from the phone. Little did she know!

_Why don't you take over from Greta? I'm sure that poor woman has had enough of cleaning up after you for the last decade_. He teased back, not wanting to tell her about his conversation with John. She should feel like she got the job purely because of her own merit, rather than because of his influence.

_You're hilarious. This is no time for jokes- I have a serious deficiency of cash and credit. Can't you find out from your office which companies are merging or whatever, and let me know so I can invest in their shares?_

_No._

_Why not? _

_Because that's insider dealing. Would you like us both to end up in jail?_

_Urgh. You always put a downer on my plans_. Mary's text concluded with a succession of irritated-looking emoticons, prompting Matthew to chuckle even more.

_Just be patient. Something will come through for you soon, I'm sure_. Joking aside, Matthew knew she must have been worrying about her continual lack of employment. Edith didn't do anything to help the situation- she took every opportunity to announce her decadent evening and weekend plans in front of Mary, making sure her older sister was well aware of how much disposable income she had.

_Hmm. I'm holding you to that._

_By all means._

"Babe?" Matthew looked up to see Lavinia in the living room doorway again. He suddenly realised he'd been grinning as he texted Mary. "What are you doing? What's so funny?"

"Nothing. It's just Tom being his usual self." He assured her.

…

On Monday evening, Lavinia visited Matthew's flat and, realising that his fridge was abysmally empty, they decided to go out for dinner.

Settling down in their usual seats by the window, Matthew scanned the room for the waiter. They visited this restaurant frequently, it being his favourite local eatery, so they already knew what they wanted to order. He started when his eyes fell upon a wholly unexpected sight. He stood up and walked over to the object of his attention, not noticing Lavinia's confused looks.

"Tom?" He called to his friend.

Tom almost jumped out of his seat. He'd been caught. Nevertheless, he stood up and attempted to hide his dinner partner by positioning himself in front of her. "Is that Sybil?" Matthew asked incredulously, peering around Tom's shoulder as Tom frantically tried to reposition himself to block Matthew's line of sight.

Matthew told himself he must be hallucinating. Why on Earth would Tom and Sybil be at dinner together?

"Matthew!" Sybil said brightly, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. "How are you?"

Matthew could only respond with a look of bewilderment. Was he supposed to know what was going on here? He looked back to Tom, his eyes desperately asking for an explanation.

"Mate, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Tom finally relented. He was going to have to explain to his best friend that he was dating Mary Crawley's little sister.

Matthew managed a slight nod, his eyebrows still knotted together with disbelief. Tom turned to smile apologetically at his date, before following his friend out of the restaurant.

…

"Why didn't you tell me?" Matthew exclaimed. "This is quite a big thing to hide from me! Does Mary know?"

"I know, I'm sorry, mate. We didn't want anybody to know. Sybil said her family, especially her mother, can get pretty controlling, and she doesn't want any interference. She didn't mention this, but I imagine the fact that I'm a security guard and can't even afford to own a car probably has something to do with it." Tom sighed. "So we thought it would be best if we kept it a secret for now, and see how things go. I would have told you otherwise, but Sybil was worried you might accidentally let it slip to Mary, or worse- to their parents." Tom looked remorseful. He'd felt terrible for keeping secrets from Matthew, especially since he'd been the first person Matthew had called after that incident with Mary last month.

"It's fine, I understand. I know what Mary's parents can be like, especially the mother." Matthew smiled sympathetically. "A word of advice, though- if you're keeping something a secret from your friend, maybe _don't_ flaunt it in a restaurant which is a five-minute walk from his flat. That aside, your secret's safe with me, I won't tell anyone." He reassured.

"You won't even tell Mary?" Matthew nodded in reply. Tom was overcome with relief. "Thanks so much, mate. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it, you've done enough for me in the past." Matthew patted Tom on the arm affectionately. His phone started ringing. Glancing at it, he raised an eyebrow. "Speak of the Devil."

"Mary?" Tom asked.

Matthew nodded as he answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Matthew Crawley, where are you? I must speak to you this instant." Mary's voice was set in 'authoritative' mode.

"I'm at Alberto's. What is it? Where are you? I can hear traffic."

"I'm walking away from your flat because you're not there. I'll be there in two minutes, wait outside for me." Mary disconnected the call before Matthew even had a chance to reply. As so often happened, she'd left him no choice but to adhere to her command.

"She's on her way here, it seems." Matthew informed his friend, who immediately started to panic.

"No! She can't come here, she'll see me with Sybil! Call her back and tell her not to come." Matthew had hardly seen his friend so frazzled over something that didn't involve a shortage of alcohol.

"It sounds like she's quite determined to come. I doubt she'd listen to me if I told her not to."

"Do you think she knows?" Tom's panic reached a crescendo. "Is that why she's calling?"

"I don't think so, no." Matthew couldn't help but laugh. "She probably wouldn't be calling me about it, would she? I think Sybil would probably be her first port of call."

Tom visibly relaxed. "Good point. OK, I'll go back inside and let Sybil know. Make sure you keep Mary outside!"

"Will do." Matthew winked back at his friend.

…

Watching the exchange between Matthew and Tom, and then seeing them suddenly turn and leave the restaurant, Lavinia walked over to where Sybil was now seated alone.

"Sybil?" She asked timidly. Although she'd met Mary a few times and they got along well, she'd only met the other Crawleys once before, and she was rather intimidated by them. At Sybil's questioning expression, she explained, "I'm Lavinia, Matthew's girlfriend. We met briefly at Mary's birthday party?"

"Oh! Of course, I remember you now. Sorry about that, I'm not very good at remembering faces!" Sybil laughed cheerily and gestured for Lavinia to take the seat opposite her, now vacated by Tom, putting Lavinia at ease.

Lavinia asked if Sybil could tell her why Matthew and Tom had left, and Sybil happily obliged. If Matthew knew, there was no harm in telling Lavinia about her relationship with Tom.

"You have nothing to worry about- Matthew is one of the most trustworthy people I know. If you ask him not to tell anybody, he won't." Lavinia said, her voice growing affectionate from thoughts of her boyfriend.

Sybil nodded in agreement. "He is a good guy. Very honourable. That's why my father's constantly gushing about him! He'd have Matthew run his businesses for him if he could!" Lavinia smiled proudly at this. "Although, I thought it was a bit much to ask him to stay over with Mary last month." Sybil laughed.

Lavinia did not laugh with her. "What do you mean?" She queried.

"When my parents went away for the night, they didn't want to leave Mary alone so they asked Matthew if he could stay with her. It was a few weeks ago now." Sybil added, thinking Lavinia must have just forgotten about it.

"I think you must be mistaken," Lavinia said slowly, her brow furrowed, "Matthew has never spent the night at your parents' house."

"Well he didn't need to in the end, because my parents came back early. Apparently Matthew and Mary were both terrified because they thought someone was breaking into the house, but it was just Daddy coming through the front door!" Sybil laughed again, but stopped when she realised Lavinia was still pensive.

"So…you're saying Matthew agreed to spend the night with Mary? In your parents' house? Alone?" Lavinia's tone had become much less timid and much more urgent.

Sybil felt uneasy. Obviously Matthew had deliberately concealed this from Lavinia for some reason, and now she'd gone and spilled the beans!

"Erm…well, I wasn't there myself, so I don't know for sure." Sybil tried to back-track. Just then, Tom came rushing back over.

"Hello, Lavinia." He said, reaching down to kiss her cheek. "Sorry I missed you earlier. I'm sure Sybil's told you all about it." He chuckled, looking over at Sybil gratefully. He noticed that she looked uncomfortable.

"Where's Matthew?" Lavinia demanded. Tom's eyebrows shot up. Lavinia was never this impolite.

"He's just outside." Tom gestured towards the door. Without a word to either of her companions, Lavinia shoved her chair back and marched outside. Tom looked searchingly back to Sybil.

"I _may _have said something I wasn't supposed to."

"What did you say?" Tom slid back into his seat and reached for Sybil's hand.

"We were just talking about how Matthew's a great guy, and I mentioned how he stayed at my parents' place with Mary a few weeks ago." Sybil explained earnestly, hoping Tom would tell her that everything was fine.

Instead, Tom released her hand, and ran both of his through his hair in agitation.

"_Shit_."

…

Lavinia pushed the door open with as much force as she could muster. She'd left her handbag at her table, but she didn't care. She looked to her right, then swiftly to her left. Her heart stopped.

Matthew was grinning as he clutched a giggling Mary Crawley in his arms, lifting her off the pavement.

…

_A/N: (even more) trouble in paradise for Matthew and Lavinia? Things are getting a bit complicated, aren't they?_

_Thanks again for all your thoughtful reviews. Please keep them coming, they help me when I make changes to my chapters before I update them, and when I write new chapters, because I know what you guys like! xxx_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: thanks again for your support! It's interesting to see that some of you find Lavinia really irritating, whilst others feel sorry for her. Let's see what you think of her after this chapter!_

…

"Argh!" Matthew cried with pain as his foot got shut in Lavinia's doorway. He'd had to practically chase her home from the restaurant- she was quite a power-walker, it transpired.

"I told you, I _don't_ want to speak to you!" Lavinia shouted through her tears as she tried to kick Matthew's foot away and force her door shut.

"You haven't heard me out yet, please just listen to me. I promise you, that wasn't what you think it was." Matthew pleaded, still struggling to push against the door. After a moment, he felt less resistance from the other side. Cautiously peeking through the crack, he saw that Lavinia had stepped away to let him in.

"You can explain yourself, but you're not allowed to touch me." She was still quietly sobbing.

"Thank you." Matthew said gently as he closed the door behind him. He flexed his right foot, making sure nothing was broken. "While I was outside speaking to Tom, Mary called me, asking where I was. She hung up before I could explain that I was at dinner with you, or anything, so I presumed it was something important. It turns out she wanted to let me know that she'd gotten the job, with that client who called me a couple of days ago!" Matthew said in a 'isn't that good news' tone, hoping Lavinia would agree with him.

"Why did she go straight to you?" Lavinia clearly didn't agree with him.

"Because she wanted to thank me for my help in getting her the job."

"So you told her? I thought you didn't want her to think she was getting jobs because of her contacts."

Matthew sighed. What happened to the old Lavinia who accepted things unquestioningly? "She got a call this morning saying that she had a phone interview with Mr Cole, my client. When she spoke to him, he explained that the interview was a mere formality because she'd gotten the job anyway, and he told her about his conversation with me. I forgot to tell him to keep it confidential." Lavinia remained quiet. "She was so happy that she wanted to thank me in person. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" He reasoned.

Lavinia was still unconvinced. "Couldn't she have thanked you during one of your sleepovers?" She asked, looking closely at Matthew to read his face.

"W-What?" Matthew was bemused. "What are you talking about?"

"Sybil told me you agreed to stay with Mary overnight at the Crawleys' house. She presumed I'd have known about it. Why _didn't_ I know about it, Matthew?" Sweet Lavinia Swire sounded almost menacing.

Matthew gulped. _Shit_, he thought. He couldn't tell Lavinia about what happened that night. He'd lose her forever. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He began, before stopping to count how many apologies he'd been involved in recently.

Lavinia interrupted him. "Did Mary tell you not to tell me?"

"What? No! Basically, Robert and Cora wanted a chaperone for her because they didn't want to leave her alone- there'd been some burglaries in the neighbourhood and they were worried. I didn't really know how to refuse Robert when he'd been so kind to me, so I agreed to stay in one of the guest rooms, I took some work with me and worked on their sofa." _And then I held her hands to show her how to grate cheese and chop onions, asked her to dance with me, tasted her mouth with my tongue and tried to grope her_, his mind irritatingly finished the story for him. "I knew you'd think it was strange, and I didn't want to concern you unnecessarily. I can see why you would take these little incidents as bad signs, but please don't make them into an issue. I want to be with _you_." He told her firmly, staring into her eyes to make her believe him. He had chosen to be with her. They made sense together. Everybody thought so.

Lavinia had stopped crying. She was in deep thought for a few minutes. Eventually she looked up into Matthew's eyes searchingly, as if trying to find something that told her she could trust him. "OK" she said.

…

Mary fought her way through the doors of Selfridges, out into the bustling, humid street. _Why did you think Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon was a good idea?_ She scolded herself. _You should have bought Mum and Dad's present weeks ago! _Her parents were celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary in two weeks with a lavish party. Having had nothing to do with her time, Mary had agreed to help organise it. But since then she'd been offered employment - her job properly started in a fortnight, but first she had two weeks of training in Liverpool, so she needed to get as much of the preparations done this weekend as she possibly could. She found a spot on the pavement to stop and scroll through the shopping list on her phone. Vases. John Lewis would do for that, she decided, putting her sunglasses on.

It wasn't long before she took her sunglasses off again, as she spotted Matthew and Lavinia, with a child, walking in the opposite direction. She straightened her white summer dress and stepped out in front of them, smiling.

"Mary!" Matthew's eyes lit up upon seeing her, making Mary feel even warmer than she had been in the 28 degree heat. "What are you doing here?"

"Doing some research on microfinance in third world countries. Have I come to the wrong place?" Mary replied drily.

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Of course, you're forever shopping, aren't you?"

"I am, but this time it's not for me. I have a shopping list of epic proportions for my parents' anniversary."

Recognition passed over Matthew's face. "Gosh, that's in a couple of weeks, isn't it?"

Mary nodded. "You're still able to come, right?" She asked, trying to keep her hopefulness concealed.

"Yes, definitely. It should be fun!" He looked to Lavinia to confirm her attendance. She was glaring at Mary. He looked back to Mary, hoping she hadn't noticed.

Mary _had_ noticed. She'd noticed it from the second Matthew called Mary's name. Lavinia hadn't stopped looking sour since that moment. She'd known something was wrong a few days ago; her and Matthew were hugging after she told him about her job, when they heard Lavinia sob and rush past them, down the street. Matthew had immediately sprinted after her. Mary had obviously realised that Lavinia was upset, but had no real reason to think that she was a cause of it. Until now, that is.

"We'll both be there." Matthew smiled, desperately hoping to ease the tension. "Oh, goodness, sorry- I forgot to introduce you. This is Lavinia's youngest sister, Emily. She's staying with Lavinia for the weekend so we thought we'd take her sight-seeing." Matthew gestured to the cute nine-year-old girl standing next to Lavinia.

"Hello Emily, are you having a nice time in London?" Mary asked kindly, bending down slightly so she could speak to the girl properly. Most people presumed she was the sort of person who hated children and wouldn't know what to do with them, but she'd played a large role in raising Sybil, so she was actually quite fond of children. As long as she didn't have to deal with more than one at a time. And they were well-behaved.

The girl, who had been admiring Mary's pretty dress and colourful sandals, nodded shyly. Mary smiled at her. "What have you done so far?"

"Mary." Lavinia's sharp voice interrupted the exchange. Mary quickly looked up at her. "I'd prefer it if you didn't speak to my family." Lavinia said curtly.

Emily looked up at her big sister, curious as to why she was being mean to the beautiful lady. Mary felt herself freeze in shock. She was somewhat used to girls not liking her, given that most females she met were unbelievably envious of her beauty and social status, but no girl had spoken to her like this before. Had Matthew told her about their kiss? He couldn't have- Lavinia wouldn't still be with him, surely? Whatever it was, Lavinia plainly didn't want Mary anywhere near her or her loved ones. She was beginning to feel a bit like a toxin again.

"Lavinia!" Matthew admonished, aghast at what she'd just said. He knew Lavinia had been jealous of his relationship with Mary recently, and had doubted Mary's trustworthiness, but he thought she'd overcome these issues.

"It's fine, Matthew." Mary said softly. She'd obviously done something to upset Lavinia, and didn't want to cause any more trouble between them. She pulled her sunglasses back over her eyes and walked away.

…

Mary knocked twice on the door to her father's study before entering. Robert was on the phone, probably discussing investments with someone, as always. She began rifling through a drawer; she needed to find some card to send out last-minute invitations. There was still a lot to do - she and her sisters and agreed to each do a performance of some kind at the party, at their mother's request. Mary desperately needed to practice hers! She was beginning to worry she wouldn't have time to prepare for her first day of training tomorrow.

Sighing in frustration, she knelt down on the floor and started searching the lower drawers.

"I'm not sure I still have that file. Let me put you on speaker-phone while I find it." She heard her father say as he sat down at his laptop at the other end of the room. _Great_, she thought. _Not only do I get to continue my quest for card, but I also get to be privy to a conversation about loan facilities!_

Her fumbling hands stilled, though, as she heard the voice on the other end of the line. It was Matthew.

"Ah, yes. Here it is. I'd saved it in the wrong folder. Jolly good, well I'll give that a read-through tonight, then." Robert said.

"That sounds fine." Mary quivered slightly at the sound of Matthew's voice. Hearing it now in the quiet of the study, she had the opportunity to focus on how sumptuous it was. She felt like she wanted to wrap herself up in it. "Give me a ring if there's anything you don't understand."

"Thanks, Matthew. Before I forget, are you coming to the anniversary party? Cora's invited so many people, I can't keep track!"

Matthew laughed, and Mary felt her insides melt. "I am coming. I'm very much looking forward to it." Mary had stopped rummaging, but remained kneeling, her head slightly tilted towards her father's phone.

"Brilliant. And we're looking forward to meeting Lavinia again. I'm afraid I didn't get a chance to speak to her properly at Mary's birthday." Mary's heart sank at the mention of Lavinia. Matthew had sent her a text yesterday afternoon, shortly after she'd bumped into them on Oxford Street, saying 'So sorry, I don't know what the matter is with her. Please don't take it personally. I'll speak to you soon'. It was sweet of him to apologise on Lavinia's behalf, but Mary suspected Lavinia would have ordered him to see less of her from now on. Mary was in no doubt that Lavinia thought she was trying to entice Matthew away from her; it was the only explanation for her uncharacteristic behaviour.

"Er…" Matthew's voice faltered. Mary turned her head more fully in the direction of the phone to hear better. "Actually…it'll just be me." Of course, Mary thought. Lavinia would have refused to attend a party at her house, knowing she'd be there.

"Oh? That's a shame. You must bring her over here one day for dinner. How about some time this week? Mary won't be here to regale you with tales of her new job, but I'm sure we'll find something to talk about." Robert chuckled, leaning in his chair to wink at his daughter. Mary had to stop herself from scowling back at him. Her father was unknowingly putting Matthew in a very awkward position.

Matthew cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I don't think that will be possible. We're…we're not exactly _together_ at the moment."

Many a time had Matthew's words made Mary's insides do a little somersault. But this was something else entirely- this was a giant tidal wave. A _tsunami_, and his words were the earthquake that triggered it.

"Oh Matthew, I'm so sorry to hear that. You'd been together for a while, hadn't you?" Robert said sensitively.

"Yes, a little while. I don't know if it's over for good, or not," the tsunami in Mary's stomach subsided with disappointment. "We haven't said 'never again' as such, but…it's unlikely, I suppose, given the…er, given the circumstances." Matthew explained, without wishing to divulge too much information.

"I see. Well, it's always best to take your time and consider these things, rather than make rash decisions. And I'm sure that's what you did." Robert said kindly. He'd always treated Matthew as a part of the family, which was something Matthew truly appreciated.

"Thanks, Robert." Matthew said sincerely.

"Well, I'll let you get back to the rest of your weekend. See you at the party."

"See you then. Good luck with all the preparations." Matthew joked, knowing how tiresome Robert found flower arrangements and table-laying.

Robert chuckled lightly as he ended the call. He turned to his daughter, who was sitting very still on the rug.

"That's rather sad news, isn't it? Did you know that they were having problems?"

"No." Mary breathed. For obvious reasons, she couldn't tell her father that she did in fact have a very good idea of what had happened in Matthew and Lavinia's relationship. Wanting to avoid further questions, she turned back to the drawers.

Was it because of Lavinia's jealousy? Was it because Lavinia knew about the kiss? Was it because Matthew realised he wanted to be with Mary?

_Whatever the reason, the result is the same_, Mary thought, chills running through her body. _Matthew is single_.

…

_A/N: soooo. What was up with Lavinia's weird bout of malice? What exactly happened between Matthew and Lavinia after Mary left? Does this mean Matthew and Mary will finally be able to get it on? ALL WILL BE REVEALED._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: not much to say here, but the responses to the last chapter were quite funny! Lots of you are eager to see M/M get it on now that Lavinia is out of the picture. So I'll leave you to read!_

…

Robert and Cora's anniversary party couldn't have arrived soon enough for Mary, for two reasons.

Firstly, her training for her new role as a junior researcher had been exhilarating, but challenging; she'd been out of a working environment for months now, and after Matthew's glowing reference, John Cole had decided to throw her in at the deep end. By the time the fortnight drew to a close, Mary was a very tired young lady.

Secondly- well, _Matthew_. He'd texted that morning to check what the dress code was, so he was definitely coming tonight. Alone. He wouldn't know many other people at the party, besides a handful of her father's colleagues whom he'd met once or twice before (but found rather dull (because they were)) and her family, so Mary assumed he'd try and spend as much time with her as possible. Which she would have no problem with. For as long as she'd known him, he'd been attached, and she wondered how he'd behave around her now that that was no longer the case- especially in light of what happened last month. Would there be any difference at all?

He'd not mentioned Lavinia to her at all- she'd not even heard his voice since she eavesdropped on his conversation with her father two weeks ago. She'd been up in Liverpool (the furthest north she'd ever been. It wasn't as bad as she'd expected), staying in a hotel with very bad phone signal, meaning the most contact she was able to have with anyone was the odd text here and there. Matthew had enquired after her training and general matters, but Mary presumed that he hadn't wanted to bring up the topic of his break-up via unreliable text messages.

She placed another bouquet on the dining table and looked at her watch. 2.13pm. Only four-and-a-half hours to go until guests would start arriving. Feeling chills run through her body, she realised she still needed to practice her performance one more time before getting ready.

…

Matthew handed his coat to the man in the hallway. He'd never seen him before, so he presumed he was some sort of butler that the Crawleys had hired for the evening. Matthew shook his head amusedly as he walked towards the living room. _The things people spend money on_.

The house looked beautiful. The lighting was dim, every table had a bouquet of either white or yellow roses on it, waiting staff meandered around the house bearing trays of canapés and champagne, and the quiet classical music playing in the background added to the luxurious atmosphere. The finely-dressed guests themselves provided decoration to the party. The large doors between the living room and dining room, and between the living room and drawing room, had been opened, to allow the traffic of guests to flow more easily. The house was already full- he was only thirty minutes late! _Is nobody fashionably late anymore? _Matthew's tardy appearance, however, had nothing to do with him wanting to seem 'cool', and entirely to do with Mary.

Firstly, he'd changed his suit three times before leaving his flat. He told himself that he needed to look smart in order to fit in amongst the other guests. But if he was being honest with himself, it was because he wanted to look good for Mary.

Secondly, he'd sat on his bed for ten minutes and had a mental debate about how to behave around Mary. She must know by now that he and Lavinia had split up- Robert definitely would have told her. If he stayed with her all night and teased her as he usually did, would she think he was flirting? If he made an effort to speak to other guests, would she think she was deliberately ignoring her? Eventually, he decided to let her conduct towards him be his guide.

Matthew surveyed the room, but it all seemed to be a blur of well-tailored suits and designer cocktail dresses. He eventually noticed Robert standing in a circle of middle-aged men, and tentatively made his way over. Thankfully, Robert spotted him approaching and welcomed him with open arms, eagerly introducing Matthew to the men surrounding them.

After shaking what seemed like twenty hands and trying to remember everybody's names, Matthew glanced around the room again- until he saw her. Mary was standing on the far side of the room, with her Aunt and a couple of other women Matthew didn't recognise. She looked even more gorgeous than usual, he noted. Her strapless black dress had a fitted bodice, but the skirt jutted out and had some netting underneath it, almost like a non-costume tutu. Her hair was tied up in a stylish bun, with a black ribbon tied in a bow acting as a headband, framing her face perfectly. Her lips and cheeks were sweet shades of pink, but her eyes were smoky and sultry. She must have felt the intensity of his stare (although 'leer' might have been a more appropriate description) from across the room, as she turned around to meet his eyes. She smiled shyly at him and raised one hand to daintily wiggle her fingers in a wave. He smiled back at her, his response restricted by the men around him. She pointed her head towards a space in the corner of the room, asking him to join her there. He nodded, excused himself from the conversation (not that those men would have even noticed his absence) and walked towards her, stuffing his hands in his pockets to prevent any nervous twitches that might appear.

"You're late." Mary teased softly. "You can't be like this at work, surely, or else your clients wouldn't rave about you as much as they do."

"I have many other things to offer, besides punctuality." Matthew feigned offence, before saying more seriously, "I do seem to be rather late, don't I? I'd presumed 6.45pm was a suggestion rather than an order."

"You should know us better than that by now, Matthew." Mary was beyond relieved that conversation was so easy between them. "Plus, if you'd been any later you might have missed my performance."

"Performance?" Matthew's question was answered by the music stopping and Robert tapping his champagne glass to summon his guests' attention.

"Would everybody kindly step into the drawing room? Our daughters have something to share with us." Robert announced, prompting much murmuring as everyone, Mary included, walked towards the next room.

…

Robert and Cora were delighted to see their guests enthralled, first by Sybil's rendition of 'I Could Write a Book' by Frank Sinatra (a song that Robert had tried singing to Cora as an attempt to woo her before they became a couple, Sybil explained, to the amusement of everyone present), and then by Edith's performance of a Chopin waltz for the piano (which Cora had learned while pregnant with Edith, and which Robert had loved listening to).

As much as Matthew was impressed by the talents of the younger Crawley sisters, he couldn't stop himself wondering what Mary would be doing. He didn't think she could sing or play an instrument; but then again, she was always surprising him.

The applause died down following Edith's performance, and Matthew craned his neck to try and get an early glimpse of what Mary was going to do. She finally made her way to the centre of the room, with a muscular young man in skin-tight clothing following closely behind. _Who is __that__?_ Matthew immediately felt jealous. Was Mary seeing someone? His adolescent emotions were interrupted by Mary addressing the audience.

"As many of you know, my father is a ballet-enthusiast." Mary began, pausing for the murmurs of agreement. "During the first few years of their marriage, he frequently tried to convince my mother that she was, deep down, _also_ a ballet enthusiast." Mary paused again as the audience's refined laughter tapered off. "The one ballet which eventually made her agree with him was Swan Lake. My partner and I will be performing a modern adaptation of the main theme." She repositioned herself as the muscular man stood behind her, his arms elegantly draped around her middle, their bodies mirroring each other. The music began.

Matthew was mesmerised. He'd never seen anybody move so gracefully and with such poise in his entire life. Not only were her movements exquisite, but there was so much emotion oozing out of her, from her beautiful face, to the tips of her delicate fingers, and right down to her pointed toes. She seemed so fragile, yet so strong at the same time.

Once the music stopped, it took a little while for the guests to realise that the performance was over- it was like Mary had cast a spell over the whole room so potent that nobody realised when it had broken. When it arrived, though, the applause was thunderous. Matthew suspected that many of these people had presumed Mary Crawley was only good for attracting men and putting outfits together. He was glad to see her being showered with appreciation in this way, and made sure he clapped and cheered the loudest in the room.

…

Matthew spent the next hour trying to get within at least a four-metre radius of Mary. All three sisters, as well as their proud parents, were being given a lot of attention by admiring guests, but Mary was receiving the most attention of all.

Dinner had been served, buffet-style (much to Cora's irritation; but then Robert had rationally pointed out that she had a choice between sixty guests with a buffet-style dinner, or fourteen guests with a sit-down dinner. She'd opted for the former). Matthew had a feeling he'd accidentally been given some gourmet baby food- the majority of it was mushy and frothy. Trying his best not to seem rude to the couple he found himself stuck talking to in the drawing room, every now and then he'd avert his gaze to peruse the room, looking for Mary.

Not seeing her anywhere, he quickly gobbled down the rest of his flavoured mush and made the excuse that he wanted to go for seconds. Striding into the dining room, he spotted Sybil sneakily stealing away a bottle of whiskey from the bar area that had been set up for the evening. Smiling at her attempts to be discreet, he walked over to her.

"It might be easier if I just hide that under my jacket." He offered with a smirk. She jumped in fright before realising that it was Matthew, and not her father or one of those tiresome businessmen.

"That would be a great help, actually." Sybil smiled, handing him the bottle, not realising that Matthew had been joking.

"I wasn't being serious, Sybil. Where are you taking it, anyway? Are you leaving?"

"Upstairs, silly! 'The youngsters', as Daddy calls us, have started a little party in the upstairs drawing room." Matthew noticed Sybil was beginning to slur her words.

"There's an _upstairs_ drawing room?" Matthew asked in disbelief. The house didn't look that large from the outside, but it seemed to be like a building-version of Mary Poppins' handbag.

"Yes, come with! We've been wondering where you've been all this time. Everybody's up there- Mary, Edith…" Sybil continued to list the occupants of this mysterious new room, but Matthew stopped listening once he heard Mary's name. So _that's_ where she'd been.

Glancing over his shoulder surreptitiously, he took the bottle from Sybil and slid it under his jacket, gesturing to her to lead the way.

…

"Matthew!" Mary exclaimed, making her way towards him as he entered the room. She hadn't had this much to drink in a while, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

Matthew managed to stop glaring at the young man Mary had been dancing with, who he knew to be James Chamberlain (James had been relentlessly pursuing Mary for months, only to be repeatedly rejected by her. But apparently he thought he stood a better chance with her now that she was drunk, and had cajoled her into dancing with him to the Franz Ferdinand track that was playing). His expression immediately transformed into one of mirth has he realised that Mary was rather tipsy.

"I've been looking for you," She said, poking his side, "but then Sybil told me to come up here and said that you'd find us eventually. I was looking for you _everywhere_! You must be like some sort of chameleon. Are you a chameleon, Matthew?" Before he had time to stop grinning and reply, she continued, "And why is it pronounced 'Matthew'? Shouldn't it be 'Mat-thew'? Like, 'Mat'. And then, 'Thew'. Why do you have two 't's in your name? Why do you need both? You're so greedy, Matthew." Mary pouted angrily and pushed him gently with one hand before turning away. Matthew was lost for words.

…

An hour later, Matthew was feeling rather merry himself. Partly because of all the alcohol, and partly because James Chamberlain was apparently still unaware of his limits and had passed out in one of the armchairs. Matthew turned to Mary, who was reclining on the sofa, next to him, and humming a song that Matthew was sure didn't exist.

"We're running low on alcohol." Edith declared. One of the other boys offered to go downstairs and steal some more, but Sybil announced that she no longer had any need for alcohol because was leaving.

"Where are you going?" Mary startled everybody by sitting bolt upright as she asked excitedly. She sounded like a child who'd just been told they were going somewhere special.

"To meet Tom." Sybil said casually, not realising what she'd just revealed.

"Who's Tom?" Mary asked. For some reason, Matthew started laughing. He found this situation very amusing indeed.

"Oh, shit. Forget I said anything." Sybil said hurriedly. She gulped as she watched her big sister stand up slowly, steady herself, and stare between her and Matthew.

"What's so funny?" Mary asked Matthew. He immediately stopped laughing and shrugged exaggeratedly, as if he had no idea what was going on. Mary turned back to Sybil.

Sybil sighed. It was probably better to tell Mary about this now, while she was in a more pliable mood. "I've been seeing Tom, the security guard."

Unexpectedly, Mary started to giggle. "Isn't _your_ friend Tom a security guard?" Mary said to Matthew. He pretended he'd only just realised the coincidence and nodded, smiling stupidly up at her.

"That's the same Tom." Sybil explained. Mary's expression became serious.

"You're going out with that Tom? Tom _Bradford_?" Mary cried.

"Branson." Matthew corrected, before wondering why he'd even bothered.

Sybil's fear of her older sister's reprimands was heightened by her drunken state. She looked like she was about to cry. "Are you mad at me?" She asked timidly.

Mary softened. She walked over to her baby sister and wrapped her arms around her. "No, I'm not mad." She mumbled into Sybil's shoulder. "Just surprised. I'm actually proud of you, you know, for doing what you want. I'm happy for you."

Sybil burst into tears at this and clutched her sister. "Oh, Mary! I love you so much!" She proclaimed dramatically.

"I love you too, darling!" Everyone in the room looked awkwardly at each other. They'd never seen any of the Crawleys be so openly affectionate with anybody. Matthew peered sideways at Edith. She was still sat alone, looking more morose than usual. _Poor Edith_.

Mary pulled back from her sister's embrace. "Well I think we should _all _go to meet this Tom Bradford."

"It's Branson. And you've already met him." Matthew pointed out.

"Yes, Matthew, I have. But not in his capacity as my sister's boyfriend." Mary said, as if Matthew had asked her what two plus two equals.

"Is it alright to just leave the party?" One of the boys asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. They're all having a good time without us, anyway!" As if on cue, there was a bout of raucous laughter from downstairs. "I'll tell Mum and Dad that we've decided to go out for a walk."

"That would be lovely if you could all meet Tom! It's such a nice night outside, too!" Sybil said excitedly. There was general assent in the room. Matthew laughed inwardly, knowing that Tom was highly unlikely to deem a group of drunken socialites gate-crashing his date with Sybil as being 'lovely'.

"Perfect! I'm going to go and get changed. Let's meet outside in ten minutes." Mary ordered the room.

Edith perked up at the opportunity to refuse to obey her sister. "Actually, I've got an important presentation to do at work on Monday, and I would like to be awake enough tomorrow to practice it. So I shan't be joining you." She said haughtily.

"Oh boo-hoo." Mary said sarcastically before turning on her heel and leaving to go to her room. Edith tried to ignore the sniggers in the room as she sipped her drink defiantly.

A few minutes later, Matthew stood in the downstairs hallway with Sybil, a now awake James Chamberlain and a young couple (the girl, Isobel McIntyre, was the daughter of an old family friend of the Crawleys, and she'd brought along her boyfriend, Seamus. Matthew got along with both of them very well), as the other youths had decided either to go home or go out clubbing in Chelsea.

Matthew loosened his tie further. All that drinking had got him quite heated up.

"Are we all ready to go?" Mary's voice suddenly came from behind him. Turning around to answer in the affirmative, he felt he needed to loosen his tie even more. And maybe run through a cold shower. Mary had changed out of her dress into nothing but a flimsy black cardigan (with nothing underneath), tight denim shorts and flip-flops.

"Mary!" Sybil laughed. "Are you really going to go outside like that?"

"What's wrong with this?" Mary asked indignantly. "It's still warm outside. This is how most girls dress nowadays, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose, but it's not like _you_ to dress like this." Sybil explained.

"Well it's not like _you_ to date security guards, but I jumped on board with that, didn't I?" Mary teased, enjoying Sybil's look of panic as she checked to ensure her parents weren't around.

"I like your outfit very much, Mary. You should dress like this more often." James piped up, attempting to sound seductive but ending up sounding slimy. Mary rolled her eyes and moved towards the door, brushing past a scowling Matthew.

…

Mary, Matthew, James, Isobel and Seamus continued their walk along the Thames. They'd walked from Belgravia to Victoria Station, to meet Tom, then on to St James' Park, and now they were approaching Westminster. While Tom had been surprised to see Sybil accompanied by her sister, his best friend and three other random people, it hadn't been too intimidating for him, given that they were all still quite tipsy and happy. He was glad to see that Mary (whom he didn't know very well) was fairly laid-back about his relationship with Sybil, and he accepted her assurances of secrecy with gratitude. He and Sybil had made their farewells as they stepped into the station- they were staying over at Tom's place tonight, although Sybil had told her parents that she would be staying with her friend Josie.

As the group arrived at Westminster Bridge, Isobel called out amongst the general chatter and said that she and Seamus would be crossing over the bridge and retiring to her flat near Waterloo. After saying their goodbyes and exchanging phone numbers with Matthew (but not James, much to Mary's amusement and Matthew's delight), the young couple walked away.

"I'm hungry." Mary complained, causing Matthew to laugh. "What?"

"You're just so high-maintenance." He goaded, playfully nudging her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mary tried to remain uppity but couldn't help her grin. "We've been walking for at least an hour! Aren't you guys hungry?"

"I am, actually. I didn't have a proper lunch because I expected dinner to be filling, but all I got was a plate of paste and foam." It had actually been rather delicious, but Matthew delighted in lightly mocking Mary's background whenever he could (but never in front of her parents, of course). He pretended to run away when he saw Mary's little fist coming at his arm.

James, meanwhile, saw his opportunity. He was as close to being alone with Mary as he had ever been. That Matthew fellow was his only obstacle, but it was clear that he wasn't properly bred. He didn't even appreciate foamed mushrooms!

"I know a good place near Belgravia that does late-night food. I can walk you back home and we can stop by there on the way. We'll have to head that way anyway, seeing as it's near where we both live." James offered Mary, making sure he emphasised the fact that Matthew wasn't from the same area as them.

Matthew's jaw clenched. He'd been hoping that James would leave soon so that he can Mary could talk freely. But now the pervy rascal was trying to get rid of _him_!

"Actually, James, you can go without me. There's something I want to speak with Matthew about- alone." Seeing that James was about to protest, Mary changed tactics, "Oh, and on your way back, if you could pop by my house and let my parents know not to wait up for me, I'd really appreciate it." She finished flirtatiously, flashing him a beautiful smile that she knew he wouldn't be able to resist.

"Sure, Mary." James replied, trying to flash her his own dazzling smile. Matthew openly scoffed. "I'll see you soon. I might stop by tomorrow and see if you need any help clearing up." James charmed.

"Oh, that's not necessary." Mary said. James nodded awkwardly, kissed Mary on the cheek and left, without acknowledging Matthew.

"Bye James!" Matthew shouted, in an overly-friendly manner. Mary erupted into a fit of giggles. "The company you keep…" He said to her once James was out of ear-shot, shaking his head.

"Shut up, you know I don't want him to be my company." Mary retorted. "He just likes to follow me around and gawk at me."

"Well, you can't blame him for _that_." Matthew said, his voice low. Mary blushed profusely.

They continued walking in silence for a little while, both acutely aware that the level of sexual tension between them had ramped up several notches.

"What do you want to do?" Matthew asked eventually. He presumed that they wouldn't want to walk all the way back to her house, but there weren't any cabs around and they'd need to leave soon if they wanted to catch the last tube.

"I don't know, I'm quite tired of walking." Mary said. "Maybe we should each head home?" She asked, not really wanting to do that at all.

"I'm not letting you go home on your own at this time of night." Matthew said protectively, making Mary blush again.

"Well if you escort me home, by the time we reach my house there'll be no tubes running for you to go home." Mary paused, thinking. "You could stay the night, we still have plenty of space."

Matthew considered this. He didn't want to leave Mary now, but at the same time he wasn't sure he'd be able to bear sleeping in a room mere metres away from her, knowing that nothing could happen because her whole family, plus a few party guests, was under the same roof.

He reached into his pocket to check he had his wallet. "I have an idea." He said, striding purposefully ahead. Mary tailed behind him, confused.

Eventually, they reached a grand building. "This is the Corinthia." Mary stated, remembering attending Isobel's 21st birthday here recently.

"It is indeed. Why don't we just stay here for the night?" Matthew said, surprised at his own forwardness. He obviously still had a bit of alcohol in him.

Mary's eyes lit up. The idea of spending the night with Matthew in a hotel was enticing, to say the least. "I don't have my purse with me." She said, still not wanting to respond too eagerly to a man's invitations.

Matthew smirked. "It's fine. I know you're a working girl now but I'm not going to let you pay for it. It's on me."

Mary smiled at him intriguingly before turning and walking swiftly through the front door of the hotel.

Matthew blew the air out of his cheeks before following her eagerly. _Does this mean what I think it does?_

_A/N: things look like they're about to steam up, don't they? :P Let me know your thoughts! Oh and if you're curious, the dance I had in mind that Mary did was similar to what Holly Valance did in Strictly Come Dancing last year, for the Halloween programme (it's on Youtube)_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: you've all been so patient, so I won't keep you for long. Only thing to say is- the rating has gone up to M. _

_I WONDER WHY._

…

Mary examined the modernist paintings in the foyer as Matthew walked up to the reception desk.

"Do you have two single rooms available next to, or near, each other?" Matthew asked. The receptionist tapped a few keys on her keyboard and shook her head.

"I'm afraid none of our remaining single rooms are on the same floor. I could offer you two separate single rooms, or alternatively we do have one double-room available." The receptionist said.

"Er… I'll take…the double-room, thanks." Matthew handed his card over.

Matthew wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not- it could be that he'd totally misread the signals from Mary. But he was sure that the smile she'd just given him was a deliberately alluring one. _But you find all her smiles alluring, you dolt_. _That doesn't mean anything_. Matthew tapped his finger on the desk nervously as the receptionist processed the transaction.

Mary dropped herself down in one of the fancy leather armchairs, giving her feet a rest. _Flip-flops aren't made for long walks across London_, she realised. She looked up when she saw Matthew walk towards her, holding only one room key-card.

"They only had a double-room available, I'm afraid." He said, looking at her anxiously. He didn't want her to think he had hatched a plan to get her into bed. More than anything else, he wanted to simply spend time with her. It had been so long since the two of them had spent time alone, just talking. "I can sleep on the floor." He added quickly.

Mary smiled, seeing that he was worried. "That's no problem at all."

…

As soon as they entered the room, Mary let out a loud sigh and plopped herself on top of the covers on the bed, as if she'd just come home from a hard day at school. Matthew, on the other hand, had to pause for a moment to take the room in. He'd stayed in nice hotels before, but this was in another league altogether; although he should have suspected from the price that it would be something special. He now realised that he probably wouldn't have to sleep on the floor- there was a sofa on one side of the room, along with a plush armchair and a divan at the end of the bed.

He removed his shoes, placed his suit jacket and tie on the back of the armchair, and sat on the bed next to where Mary was lying down, staring at the ceiling.

"Did you enjoy tonight?" She asked.

"Very much so. Your family throw some pretty amazing parties." Matthew replied, slouching down slightly so he was almost reclined, like Mary.

"They do like to do things in a big way. God knows what they'll do for their fiftieth anniversary."

Matthew only chuckled lightly at this. He was growing increasingly warm at their proximity on the bed and the fact that Mary wasn't wearing much clothing. Her long, bare legs caught his eye. Suddenly, the idea of merely _talking_ to Mary wasn't as attractive as it had seemed earlier.

Mary also felt herself flush when Matthew joined her on the bed. They weren't touching, but his presence alone was enough to induce a tingling sensation all over her body. He was wearing a rather fitted shirt, through which she could make out the contours of his torso and arms. She was breathing more rapidly than usual, she observed. A large part of her just wanted to sit up and straddle him. She felt the need to say something- something neutral- otherwise the heat would grow unbearable.

"I never got a chance to properly tell you about my first two weeks at work." She began.

Matthew sighed inwardly. How long was this going to be drawn out for? He was already brimming with arousal at the thought of her body next to him. He needed to say something- thank goodness he still had some Dutch courage left.

"Mary, I don't want to talk about that."

Mary immediately turned her head to look at him properly. His voice was low and serious, but in the most sultry way possible. His eyes were boring into her. She couldn't tell if her heart had stopped beating, or if it was beating so fast that it felt like one long heartbeat.

"Oh?" was all she managed to say.

"Ask me why Lavinia and I broke up."

Mary's brow creased. Why was he bringing that up now? She tried to ask the full question, but her current flustered state only allowed her to make mono-syllabic responses. "Why?"

"Because of you." Matthew said. His azure eyes still staring straight into hers.

Mary swallowed hard (not realising that this turned Matthew on even more). "What?" The mono-syllabic curse continued with full force.

The corner of Matthew's mouth twitched up, revealing one of his adorable dimples. Mary badly wanted to lean forward and run her tongue along it, but she seemed to be paralysed at the moment.

"We broke up, because of the way I feel about you." Matthew said slowly, his voice still low. He turned onto his side, moving himself even closer to her. Seeing that Mary's eyes were widened and her mouth parted in surprise (God, he craved the taste of those lips), he continued. "I've…been having some rather inappropriate thoughts about you lately, particularly after our kiss."

Mary's internal organs were busy rearranging themselves from excitement, but her exterior remained frozen. Matthew had been thinking of her inappropriately? What had he been thinking? Was his definition of 'inappropriate' the same as hers? "Like?" She breathed. She gazed at him fervently, awaiting his answer. She hadn't anticipated anything so eagerly in her whole life!

"Well," Matthew began, his eyes dropping to watch his hand as it reached across the gap between their bodies. He ran it along her stomach, slowly. "I've found myself wondering…what your skin would feel like under my fingers. And how it would taste…under my lips." His hand travelled up slightly, to rest just under her breast. He brought his eyes back up to meet hers.

Mary was almost trembling with desire. The feel of his masculine hand on her thinly-covered torso sent flames rushing through her body. She wanted more.

"What else?" She whispered, finally overcoming her temporary speech impediment, but still finding it difficult to speak.

Matthew smirked slightly. "Shall I show you?" He echoed her words back to her.

His answer came as Mary's hands fisted into his collar, pulling him down on top of her.

Matthew closed his eyes as he captured her sweet lips in his. He groaned at the sensation, and brushed his hand over her torso again. Wanting him to be as close to her as possible, Mary sank her fingers into his hair as her tongue delved into his mouth, causing them both to writhe against each other from the desire burning inside of them.

This second kiss mirrored their first- their tongues and lips slid against each other with a heavenly friction, each of them ignoring the fact that they needed to break apart for breath. Mary felt Matthew's hand slide underneath her cardigan, his fingers caressing the skin on her waist. He sighed into her mouth. Her skin felt softer and more luxurious than silk. His gentle caresses weren't satisfying enough for Mary, however. She reached her leg up and curled it around his body, her foot resting on the back of his knee. Matthew felt his arousal harden even more at the knowledge that Mary's almost-bare leg was wrapped around him. He removed his hand from under her cardigan and slid it over her denim shorts, and down the smooth, exposed skin of her thigh. Still unsatisfied, Mary brought one hand to his shoulder and pushed, moaning slightly to indicate that she wanted him to roll onto his back. Matthew obliged- he'd do basically anything she wanted right now.

Mary straddled Matthew as he lay down, their lips still tasting each other. She pulled away from him and sat back on her legs, inadvertently pressing her groin closer to his. She felt herself grow wetter at the sensation of his hardness underneath her.

Matthew felt like the room was spinning. He rested his hands on Mary's hips as he watched her unbutton her cardigan from the top down, tantalisingly slowly, her eyes never leaving his. For the second time that night, he was mesmerised by her movements. When she finished, she pulled the garment down her arms and off, gently casting it on the floor. As Matthew took in the sight of her upper body in nothing but her bra, Mary's hands tugged at the buttons on his shirt. She undid them speedily, spreading his shirt open and immediately running her hands over his lean torso.

Mary was overcome with the need to kiss his body. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his chest, slowly dragging them across until she flicked her tongue over his nipple. He groaned, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, his hands gripping her body more fiercely. Submission was obviously something that worked for him. Buoyed by this reaction, Mary continued to move her lips and tongue over his chest and up to his neck, where she began nibbling his skin.

Turning his head to the side to enable Mary to kiss his neck more fully, Matthew opened his eyes and caught their reflection in the mirror in the corner of the room. He marvelled at the sight- him reclined on the large bed, almost shirtless, with Mary Crawley straddling him, her face buried in his neck, her lustrous hair splayed on his chest, her hands stroking his torso. Watching himself in the mirror, he stroked his hands over her exposed back, moving them round to her waist, down to her hips, and then down further to- her derriere. Matthew took great pleasure in placing his hands firmly on each perfectly-rounded buttock, squeezing and fondling as he liked. He took even greater pleasure in seeing and feeling Mary squirming on top of him. He brought his hands up to her sides and gently pushed her so she lay on her back. He sat up and removed his shirt fully before moving over her again and settling in between her legs. Missing her mouth on his, he bent down and ran his tongue along her top lip, coaxing her mouth open, before tilting his head and finding her tongue. She wrapped both of her legs around him this time, as tightly as she could.

Mary felt one of Matthew's hands run down along her leg and hook under her knee, while the other moved to the side of her breast, where his thumb began to stroke over her bra. She moaned and pushed herself up, wanting to press against his hand as much as she could. Matthew took advantage of her arched back and slid his hands around, quickly undoing the clasp. He pulled away from the kiss as he brought the straps over her arms and flung it onto the floor. Leaning back on his arms, his eyes roamed the vision beneath him. "God, Mary" he breathed, his voice rough with desire. She looked like a mythological princess, too beautiful and sensual to be real. He bent his head and began placing languid kisses over her neck and throat, feeling Mary's arms reach around him to stroke his back. His lips made their way down to her chest. Readjusting himself so that he was lower down on her body, he cupped each of her breasts in his hands. He licked his lips, as if settling down to a meal, before lowering his mouth over her left nipple.

Mary unconsciously dug her nails into Matthew's bare back. His mouth was warm and wet, and was worshipping her body. The lights were still on, meaning she could _see_ everything he was doing, as well as feel it- every movement of his fingers, every flick of his tongue. Needing to release the sexual energy building up inside her, she moved her legs up and down his sides, rubbing the backs of his legs with her feet. "Matthew" she rasped.

Sensing that Mary was feeling just as impatient as he was, but still wanting to taste as much of her as possible, Matthew quickly kissed his way to the waistband of her shorts. Mary watched him as he undid the button and small zip, before carefully pulling them down her long legs- along with her underwear.

Mary had never let anyone see her in…_this_ way, not in a well-lit room, at least. But any nerves which may have threatened to appear quickly dissolved as she saw Matthew raise himself so he was kneeling on the bed in front of her. Her eyes roved over his dishevelled golden hair, his topaz-coloured eyes (which were eyeing her greedily), his broad frame and his toned body. He looked like a Scandinavian God, ready to take her.

He lifted her right leg and rested her foot on his shoulder, their eyes still locked together. Moving his head slightly, he kissed her ankle, then proceeded to drag his lips down the inside of her leg, lowering himself back down to the bed as he did so. Apparently the answer to 'how would Mary's skin feel under my lips?' was 'unbelievably good.' Upon reaching her centre, Matthew's mouth hovered as he looked up at Mary to see if she had any objection. Seeing her almost imperceptible nod, he placed his lips over her, his tongue slowly running up between her slit. Mary let out an audible sigh at the sight of Matthew's gorgeous head between her spread legs. Her head rolled back and one hand grasped the pillow; the feel of his hot mouth pleasuring her was driving her wild.

Matthew could have spent all night exploring her like this, but the taste of her in his mouth coupled with the erotic sounds escaping her were already sending him over the edge. Pressing one last kiss to her, he sat back again to hastily undo his belt and trousers. Once he'd discarded them, along with his underwear, he settled over her again to kiss her lips. The room was quiet, but neither of them realised- the sounds of each other's moans and sighs filled their ears.

Mary thought she'd physically burst if he didn't move inside her soon. She pulled Matthew's hips towards her with her hands in an attempt to convey this to him. Breaking apart momentarily, Matthew opened his eyes to search for Mary's assent. She nodded vigorously, pulling him closer so that he felt her centre against him.

That did it for Matthew. Unable to hold back any longer, he thrust into her, evoking a sharp gasp and a guttural groan. Trying to collect himself so that he didn't finish right then and there, Matthew began moving back and forth inside her, the sensation of her so tight around him turning his groans into animalistic grunts.

Mary was losing her mind. Her moans and ragged breaths punctured the air as Matthew repeatedly hit her spot. Her fingers clutched his back and his shoulder, and she was somewhat aware of his hands pulling down on her shoulders as he jerked into her, seeking deeper penetration.

Neither of them knew how long they went on like this; the experience felt torturously long and yet they could have continued forever. As they reached their peak, their bodies took over completely, each doing whatever it needed to do to find its release. Mary wanted to cry out Matthew's name as she finished, but the ecstasy was too overwhelming- all she managed was a loud, prolonged cry as she rode out the waves of pleasure. Matthew's grunts began forming the beginning of several expletives, increasing in volume until he shattered inside of her.

Matthew's body involuntarily dropped down on top of Mary's, but Mary hardly noticed nor cared- her body had turned into jelly. Numb jelly.

…

Some time later (all concept of time was still lost to them both), Matthew summoned the energy to raise his upper body off of Mary. Looking down at her, he saw that she somehow looked even more beautiful than she had done earlier in the evening; her skin was moist, her cheeks flushed, her hair unkempt. He delighted in the fact that he was able to see her this way- that it was _him_ who had brought her to this satiated state. His thumb gently stroked her cheek.

"Hi." Mary said softly, a sweet smile gracing her face.

"Hi." Matthew smiled back. He bent his head to tenderly kiss her lips.

"How do you feel?" Mary asked once he pulled away. From the sounds he'd been making, she could tell that he'd enjoyed it _physically_, but she wanted to know how he really felt about it, emotionally.

Matthew's hand played with a lock of her glossy, dark hair. "Like I just had the most wonderful near-death experience ever. I think I saw God." He smiled cheekily.

"You're so cheesy, Matthew Crawley." Mary giggled as Matthew placed several small kisses on her face. He leaned back again, still smiling.

Mary looked up at him. She wanted to memorise everything about his current appearance- his absurdly messy hair, his shining blue eyes, his red lips. Simultaneously adorably boyish and devilishly handsome, he was the ideal of the male form, in her opinion at least. Mary slid her fingers into his hair and back out again, before resting her hand on the side of his face. Her expression became more serious as she looked into his eyes.

"I love you" she said.

…

_A/N: *gasp* Matthew and Mary had sex! *gasp* Mary said the 'L' word! _

_What did you guys think? I've never written anything this saucy before- I had it all planned out in my head but I'm not sure it came as well on the page…_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: I'm so glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter! I hope it satisfied your needs :P Now, I'm sorry, but this chapter is a little bit more serious- but only because it needs to be. I hope you'll understand what I mean when you read it!_

…

Mary immediately regretted her words upon seeing Matthew's startled expression. What had she been thinking, springing that on him so soon? They hadn't even discussed whether they wanted a proper relationship. _But surely Matthew must know that I wouldn't have slept with him if I didn't feel strongly about him?_

During the drunken heart-to-heart which had led to their friendship, Mary had revealed that she'd only ever been with two people before; her first was her good-for-nothing playboy boyfriend whom she'd dated for eighteen months in her late teens. She'd thought herself to be in love with him (she now recognises it as infatuation), and had subsequently given herself to him. When she found out several months later that he'd been seeing an older woman at the same time as dating her, Mary vowed never to let a man be with her so intimately unless she was in love, or close to it. Unfortunately, she'd gone back on her vow in her final two weeks of university, and had a one-night-stand with the son of an aristocrat; word had spread around college like wildfire. Chatter began to circulate around Belgravia, where she lived, but she managed to dismiss most of it as nonsense- although, inevitably, some people preferred to believe the gossip.

Most of her suitors had since divided themselves into two camps; one believed her to be frigid (but wanted to have a go at it anyway) and the larger camp thought her 'classiness' and 'purity' was all a front- nobody that sought-after could resist sleeping around, surely? (It hadn't helped that her delightful ex-boyfriend, bitter at being dumped by her, had spread false and salacious rumours about her to anybody who'd listen). Matthew, however, had all but applauded her on her mature decision, saying that he'd also made a similar vow. But had Matthew let lust get the better of him? Had he merely used her as a way to relieve himself of the omnipresent sexual tension between them? It had only been a fortnight since his long-term relationship with Lavinia had ended- of course he couldn't love her.

Mary's fears were allayed by the joyous smile on Matthew's face as he looked down at her. "I love you too." He whispered, leaning down to gently take her bottom lip in his, sucking sweetly.

"You do?" Mary asked in disbelief, once he'd pulled away.

"I do." Matthew confirmed, his eyes smiling. Nuzzling her neck, he added, "In fact, I don't just love you- I absolutely _adore_ you." The sensuality in his voice was potent enough to cause goosebumps all over Mary's warm body. Yet, she remained unconvinced. He'd been in love with another woman a mere two weeks ago! Was Matthew just speaking out of a post-coital haze?

"But, I don't understand." Mary pushed Matthew away from her (despite her enjoyment of his lips on her neck). "You can't be in love with me. It's too soon. It's only been a couple of weeks since…" Mary trailed off, not being especially enthusiastic about mentioning Lavinia's name while she was naked in bed with Matthew.

Matthew slowly rolled over to his side and sat up against the pillows. Mary immediately missed the feeling of his body inside and over her. Maybe she should have just taken his word for it. Sighing, she too sat up so that she was level with him.

"Mary, I think I've been in love with you for a while." Matthew said seriously. Being romantic and silly with Mary was inexplicably wonderful, but this conversation needed to be had if they were going to be able to have a proper relationship. She needed to believe him, she needed to know exactly how he felt about her if this was going to work.

Mary's eyes widened in shock as her heart skipped several beats. "Even while you were with…"

"Yes." Matthew stated firmly. "For the last couple of months, I'd say. But I've just been living in this huge vat of denial. A vat as big as The Nile. There's a joke in there somewhere…" Matthew's brow furrowed momentarily, and Mary would have laughed if she wasn't so gobsmacked. Matthew was in love with her? And had been for at least two months? Her heartbeat was becoming increasingly erratic. Mary began to wonder if the hotel had a defibrillator.

"So, when did you realise?" Mary asked, finally able to catch her breath.

"After Lavinia and I bumped into you on Oxford Street. Do you want to know what happened after you left?" Matthew didn't really want to delve into the details of how his relationship with Lavinia ended, but he would if Mary wanted him to.

Mary felt like saying no. The night so far had been like the most blissful dream. She didn't want to interrupt it with serious conversations about Matthew and Lavinia's break-up, but she realised that it was necessary. She wanted so much to believe him when he said that he loved her, but she needed to hear his story if she was to understand how that could be true. She looked at Matthew and nodded. He smiled slightly at her, taking her hand in his and rubbing his thumb over it affectionately before he began.

…

"_What the bloody hell was that?" Matthew asked Lavinia angrily as he watched Mary walk away. _

"_Language." Lavinia warned, gesturing to her little sister, who was still very confused about what had just happened. "We'll talk about this later. Now, which way is Green Park?" _

"_You know, I think I'm going to go home, actually." Matthew said. He didn't much feel like being around Lavinia when she was being so absurdly jealous. "Let me know when you're able to talk." He reached into his wallet and pulled out some money which he handed to Emily. He'd promised to buy her some London souvenirs and didn't want to let her down just because Lavinia was being ridiculous. "Enjoy the rest of your day" he said to the little girl, before marching off towards the station._

_A few hours later, Matthew stepped into Lavinia's flat. She'd dropped Emily off at her cousin's place for a couple of hours, and called Matthew to ask him to come over. She was disappointed to see that his anger had not yet abated. _

"_I don't see why you don't understand how I feel, Matthew." She argued. "That girl is clearly after you and she's doing whatever she can to lure you into her trap! She invites you to spend the night with her, drops by unannounced to your flat, interrupts your dinners out with me, teases you and hugs you…And you're falling for it all, like an idiot!" Her voice was raised._

_Matthew didn't think he'd ever been so frustrated in his life. "She is __not__ 'after me' and she is __not__ doing anything to 'lure me away'. How many times do I have to tell you?" Matthew was getting rather tired of this conversation._

"_How do you explain all of that, then? Hmm?" Lavinia stood with her hands on her hips._

"_For God's sake, Lavinia." Matthew sighed wearily. "I've told you- it was Robert who asked me to spend the night, not Mary. Mary didn't even want me there, she thought it was ridiculous!" He cried._

"_Oh, I'm sure she was __totally__ against the whole thing. I'm sure she __hated__ having you all to herself." Lavinia's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I'll bet she had it all planned out right from the start. From the moment she met you." She huffed._

"_You're actually deluded." Matthew stated. "Why are you suddenly so against her? She's been nothing but nice to you. She even invited you to her birthday party!" Matthew reasoned. He disliked seeing his girlfriend be so insecure, but even more than that, he realised with surprise, he didn't like hearing anybody speak ill of Mary. _

"_I met up with Lizzie in Chelsea the other day, after she got back from her honeymoon. The boys on the table next to us were having a fine old time talking about Mary Crawley's 'assets' and how flexible she was in bed. Apparently one of their friends was a conquest of hers. He'd had a girlfriend at the time." Lavinia finished sternly. _

"_That's utter bullshit." Matthew was even more infuriated at the knowledge that these things were being said about Mary behind her back. She didn't deserve it; she was one of the classiest, most self-respecting people he knew. He felt the overwhelming urge to hunt down the source of these rumours and put his rifle training from Sandhurst to good use._

_Lavinia flung her arms up in despair. "How can you be so obtuse, Matthew? She's doing the exact same thing to you! She's cast you under her spell. From what I heard, she's probably got several other guys on the go, the little sl-"_

"_Don't you __dare__." Matthew said menacingly. _

_Lavinia was shocked to see her boyfriend glare at her in that way. But she wasn't going to shy away- she needed to put her foot down. "Look, Matthew. All it comes down to is this- I don't trust her. Not one bit."_

"_You know what? It's not her that you need to worry about." Matthew said, still fuming from what he'd heard Lavinia say in these last few minutes._

"_What? Why?" Lavinia asked, confused._

"_Because __I__ was the one that leaned in to kiss her!" Matthew shouted. _

_Lavinia paled. _

_The only sound in the room was Matthew's heavy breathing. He rubbed a hand over his face, realising what he'd just said. He hadn't meant to be malicious. But, he reasoned, it was probably for the best that it came out- this conversation should have taken place a while ago. _

"_You kissed?" Lavinia whispered tremblingly, her eyes watering. _

_Matthew approached her slowly, nodding regretfully. Lavinia reached out and gripped the chair near her to steady herself. Tears fell down her face._

"_Lavinia," Matthew began quietly. What could he say? She'd been the perfect girlfriend and he'd cheated on her. Nothing could make this better. "I thought it was a mistake. That's why I didn't tell you. I thought it was just a silly aberration in my behaviour and I didn't want to dwell on it or let it affect anything. I'm not saying that what I did wasn't wrong, or that you shouldn't hate me, because you should. It was an awful thing to do to you. Despicable. But I want you to know that I stayed with you because I genuinely wanted to." He watched her weep. "You've been so good to me." He whispered, feeling a lump in his throat and his eyes welling up. _

_Lavinia continued to sob. A few minutes later, she collected herself and looked up to meet Matthew's pained eyes. "I don't hate you." She said, her voice still unsteady. "I don't think I could, even if I wanted to." She laughed humourlessly. "Do you love her?" She asked after a moment._

_Matthew was taken aback. He'd considered the possibility of having feelings for Mary, but the notion of him loving her had never entered his mind. "I don't think so" he said truthfully. Lavinia seemed mildly placated by this. _

"_So nothing else happened? Aside from…the kiss?" Lavinia's voice broke again as she uttered the last two words. Matthew's heart broke, knowing that he'd caused her sorrow._

"_No, nothing. It happened completely unintentionally- neither of us expected it at all." He reassured her. "When she came over to my flat that day, unannounced- the reason she left so abruptly was because I asked her to leave. I didn't want her to be there, to remind me of what I'd done. We spoke about it later and agreed that we should pretend it never happened."_

_Lavinia seemed to accept this. "Do you have any feelings for her?" She asked._

_Matthew paused to consider his answer. He didn't want to lie to her, or to anyone, ever again. "I do, yes. I've been in denial about it, though. I've been pushing it all to one side, because I didn't want the complication of having to deal with it. I have no idea if anything will come of it, though. But I should have told you. Whatever may or may not happen with Mary and me, I should have told you. I'm so sorry." He apologised, realising he hadn't yet said those words to her. _

_Lavinia flinched as she heard him admit his feelings for Mary. "What do you want, Matthew?" She suspected she knew what the answer would be. _

_Matthew let out a shaky breath. This was difficult. "I…think it might be best if we…" He trailed off, unable to find the right words. They were unnecessary, however, as Lavinia seemed to grasp his meaning._

"_That's probably a good idea." She said._

_Late that night, Matthew reluctantly stood up from the sofa and made his way over to the kitchen, to pour himself another drink. His break-up with Lavinia had been the hardest, most draining conversation he'd ever had. Two years was the longest he'd ever been in a relationship, and now it was all over. He suddenly felt very alone._

_Minutes later, he received a message on his phone. It was from Lavinia._

Matthew, I just wanted you to know- I still love you. I'm angry and hurt, of course, but I can't bear the thought of never being with you again. I don't know what to do. Maybe we should be apart for now, and see how things go?

_Matthew read the message several times, considering his response. As lonely as he was feeling at the moment, he couldn't bear to give her false hope._

Lavinia, I don't want to make any promises or pacts that I don't know if I can keep. I feel like I've hurt you enough already, I care for you too much to risk doing it again. Maybe we can be friends? I'm so sorry. Take care.

_A reply appeared after a minute or two._

OK, that sounds sensible. All the best, Matthew.

_Matthew looked down at the floor. He'd had no real right to be angry at Lavinia. Although she hadn't handled her jealousy very well, she had been correct to suspect that something inappropriate was going on between him and Mary. He realised that, over the last few hours, he'd given more thought to, and been more concerned over, how Mary felt than how Lavinia felt. When he'd returned home from Oxford Street, it was Mary whom he'd wanted to run to and comfort, not his girlfriend. _Come to think of it_, he thought, _I've never been as supportive of Lavinia as I have been of Mary_. Granted, he had been there for Lavinia when she'd needed him- anytime she was upset or worried, he'd been there to soothe her. But he'd done this mostly out of a sense of duty- he was her boyfriend, so it fell to him to be her support. _

_With Mary, on the other hand- he'd had no reason to search for her when she disappeared after a fight with her parents. He'd had no reason to help her to her room after she'd had one too many drinks at her birthday party. He'd had no reason to drive all the way from his flat to Kensington at 2am to pick her up when she couldn't get a cab home. He'd had no reason to speak of Mary so highly to John Cole, when he'd asked for Matthew's opinion. Indeed, Lavinia had asked him a few months ago to be a referee for her brother, thinking Matthew's status as a lawyer would look good on her brother's CV. Matthew had declined, explaining that he didn't want to mix his personal and professional life together. _

_But as soon as it was __Mary's__ interests at stake, all his self-imposed rules flew out of the window. _Come to think of it_, he thought, _I've never cared for anyone as much as I have for Mary_. It seemed as if there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for that gloriously beautiful, intelligent, witty, infuriatingly head-strong woman. _

_His thoughts wondered back to his kiss with Mary. He'd worried that he'd changed as a person- that he'd gone from being the trustworthy guy to the guy who cheats. Previously, he'd never dreamed of even flirting with another woman while he was in a relationship. But now he realised, the fact that he kissed Mary wasn't a sign that he'd changed as a person- it was a sign of the depth of his feelings for her. He wondered if Lavinia had been onto something. _Maybe the notion of loving Mary isn't so ludicrous after all_. But he didn't want to commit himself to that idea yet. He couldn't be sure until he saw her._

…

"And now I'm sure." Matthew concluded. He brought Mary's hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly.

"Matthew," Mary breathed. She was speechless. Hearing Matthew recount his final conversation with Lavinia had been difficult for her, knowing that she'd played a large part in causing all this heartache. But hearing him explain how he came to realise the strength of his feelings for her- it made Mary feel like she was floating. "I don't know what to say." She admitted.

"Well, that's good." Matthew said cheekily, "Now I know to just tell you that story everytime I want a moment of peace."

His adorably mischievous smile topped it all off. Mary practically pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his shoulder and waist, and kissing him passionately. Matthew smiled into the kiss as his own arms stroked her back, unable to believe his luck.

…

_A/N: theoretically, I could finish the story there. BUT I figured there are a couple of loose ends to tie up, like the issue with Mary's parents etc. So there will be a few more chapters! Let me know your thoughts!_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: I'm so glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter. I hope it cleared some things up._

…

Mary felt a twinge of annoyance. She was being woken up against her will. Her displeasure eased off, however, when she felt a warm hand rub over her bare stomach and soft kisses planted on her shoulder. Remembering who her bed partner was, she turned onto her back to give him access to her collarbone.

"Mmm," she hummed. "What time is it?" She asked sleepily, her eyes still closed as she enjoyed the affection she was receiving.

"11am." Came the casual reply.

"What? I need to go home!" Mary shrieked as she sat upright, her shoulder knocking against Matthew's head with the force of her movement.

"Ow! Bloody hell, Mary, I was joking. It's 5am." Matthew said wearily, rubbing the side of his head that had been impacted upon by Mary's surprisingly pointy shoulder.

"Oh," Mary sighed in relief. "Sorry." She said as she lay back down and reached out a hand to help soothe poor Matthew's head. "Wait, it's 5am? What are you doing awake, you freak?"

Matthew smiled at her wickedly as he wrapped his arm over her torso, tauntingly caressing her with his fingers. "I want to make you go over again." He whispered in her ear, in that deliciously low voice of his.

Mary felt herself instantly become wet. Her breaths became shorter. Matthew's hand moved up to grasp her breast, massaging it with his long fingers, while his mouth nipped along her neck. "I don't think it will take much, to be honest." Mary admitted. "God, Matthew." She gasped, feeling his fingers play with her nipple.

"Oh really?" Matthew asked, extremely curious at exactly how little it would take to make her peak. He dipped his head to take her other breast in his mouth, slowly swirling his tongue around it before sucking, enjoying the sound his mouth made on her.

Mary dug her fingers into Matthew's back. She was growing delirious. Her chest involuntarily rose up to seek more pleasure from his tongue and fingers. "_Fuck_."

Matthew raised an eyebrow at her expletive but didn't stop his attentions. He'd never heard her swear like that before. She must _really_ be enjoying this. He continued, his focus solely on her soft, plump breasts. He heard her groans become more urgent and demanding, and felt her writhe more insistently. Deciding to put her agony, and his curiosity, at an end, he removed his hand from her chest and trailed it down her body until he reached her centre. He paused for a moment before slipping it in. She was soaking. It was his turn to curse now, but it was muffled because her breast was still in his mouth. He began gently moving his fingers around over her. Mary's hips soon began to jerk upwards and her moans grew increasingly desperate until she let out one final, loud curse. Matthew felt her release onto his hand. He was surprised that he didn't release himself, from the eroticism of it all.

"See, I told you." Mary panted.

…

"What time is it now?" Mary asked. Matthew's little wake-up call had worked so well that they'd ended up having another early-morning romp; it had been much more languid than the first two (the second one being after they'd proclaimed their love for each other), but no less enjoyable. She was now half lying on top of Matthew, her back to his chest and his arms around her waist.

Matthew glanced at the bedside clock. "6.30." He replied, burying his nose in her messy hair.

Mary sighed with disappointment. "I should probably go home." She said as she stroked his forearms.

"What? Why?" Matthew's grip on her body unconsciously tightened. "It's so early!"

"I need to get home before anybody wakes up- they need to think I came home late last night and have been in bed all this time." She pointed out.

"Nobody's going to be awake at 6.30 on a Sunday, Mary. The party probably only finished at about midnight."

"Yes, but by the time I get ready and travel home, it'll be much later. Plus, I need to factor in the amount of time it will take to convince you to let me go." Mary teased, angling her head to give him a quick kiss on the jaw. Deciding she liked the way his stubble felt against her lips, she carried on. "You know my Dad never wakes up much later than 8.00, even if we're on holiday." Mary rolled her eyes. It was a bit of a pain having such a hard-working father, sometimes.

Seeing no way to argue against her, Matthew eventually conceded that Mary should probably go home. But he still wanted to spend as much time with her as he could. "I'll walk you home."

"You _can't_ walk me home." Mary replied.

"Why not?"

"Firstly, because it would take too long. And secondly…" Mary said provocatively as she turned her body around and moved down the bed, "I'm about to make you weak at the knees."

Matthew could only stare open-mouthed as her head disappeared beneath the covers.

…

"I think my mother will be happy about us." Matthew called from the bathroom. He'd tried to persuade Mary to shower with him ("Only to clean ourselves, of course" he'd said with unconvincing innocence), but Mary insisted that they didn't have time. So they settled on each quickly freshening up before Mary got her taxi (she'd planned on getting the tube back, but Matthew had urged her to let him get a cab with her. He looked so determined about it that Mary couldn't say no. Besides, she quite enjoyed him looking after her).

"Your mother?" Mary queried. "But we've never met."

"I know, but she's heard a lot about you." Matthew said as he walked back into the bedroom, his hair in a much better state than it had been. "I think she suspected that something was going on between us before even I realised it. That woman can track a scent like a blood-hound."

"What have you been telling her about me?" Mary smiled as she finished buttoning up her cardigan.

"Lots of good things" Matthew smiled back, walking over to place an arm around her waist and kiss the side of her head. "And now I have even more good things to tell her." He said suggestively.

"Ew, Matthew, do you realise what you just said?" Mary asked, rather disgusted.

"Er, yeah, sorry about that. That was meant to be a compliment." Matthew walked away to find his shirt. "Do you think your parents will be happy?" He thought it was a silly question- of course they'd be happy! Robert and Cora adored him and already treated him like a family member.

Mary stilled. In all the excitement and passion of the night, she hadn't thought about what her parents would say. This was her first relationship in years- and, in all honesty, she was only eighteen when she'd had her first boyfriend, and nobody had taken it very seriously. She remembered the conversation she'd had with her mother about how 'men like Matthew' were unsuitable. _Crap_. "We can't tell them about us now; they'll know that something happened last night. It'll be weird." She said.

"Well I know _that_." Matthew laughed as he sat down on the bed. "But we'll tell them soon, won't we? There's no reason to keep it a secret. Not amongst family, at least."

Mary couldn't bear to look at his darling, eager face. She needed to convince him that sharing this wonderful new development in their relationship wasn't a good idea. At least until she could test the waters and convince her parents that she didn't need to be with someone wealthy or privately-educated. "Actually," she began, "I think we should keep it quiet for a little while."

Matthew's brow creased in confusion. "Why?"

"Well, I think it's a good idea for us to settle into our relationship a bit before we tell anyone. You know how interfering my mother can be." She argued convincingly (she hoped).

Matthew remembered Tom citing similar reasons for him and Sybil keeping their affair a secret. "But surely your parents wouldn't want to interfere if they were happy with your boyfriend." Matthew asked.

"You don't know my mother." Mary said drily. "Plus, I…think it'll be good if we had a chance to get used to being with each other, without any prying eyes."

"But I'm already used to being with you." Matthew said so affectionately that Mary's heart swelled.

"Well…I just think I'll feel better if we hold off on announcing it- that way, we can just enjoy each other's company without having to worry about anyone else." Mary said, well aware that enjoying each other's company would in fact be much more difficult if they had to sneak around. Thankfully, this seemed to pass by Matthew.

"Alright, if that's what you want." He smiled, rising from the bed to give her a hug.

…

The new couple chatted easily in the cab on the way home, with Mary pushing thoughts of her parents to one side. She asked the cab-driver to stop at the end of her road, just in case any of her family, or the few guests who had stayed the night, saw it pull up outside the house.

"I guess I'll see you later." She said shyly as she turned to Matthew. This new kind of intimacy was still unfamiliar to her, and she felt unsure what to do in moments such as these.

Matthew, on the other hand, had to rein his affections in. He constantly wanted to kiss her, hold her hand, put his arm around her. "I guess you will." He said quietly, leaning in to lovingly press his lips against hers. He watched Mary get out of the cab, walk down the street and open her front door. When he was sure she was inside safely, he asked the cab-driver to drop him off at the nearest tube station. He'd forgotten how expensive cabs were these days. He sure as hell wasn't going to be driven all the way to Clapham. The cab-ride coupled with the hotel made this one very costly weekend. But it was worth it.

…

"Ah, Mary, there you are. What time did you get home last night?" Robert asked as he walked into the kitchen and saw Mary pouring herself some cereal.

"I don't remember, really. It was after everyone had gone to bed." Mary said coolly.

"You look very tired. Did you not sleep well?" Robert looked at her concernedly.

"No, not very well. I suppose I must have had a bit too much to drink." Mary replied, thinking that her father would be far less shocked at the knowledge that she'd been drunk than he would be at the knowledge that she'd spent the entire night banging his legal adviser in a 5-star hotel.

Robert chuckled. "I just got off the phone with Matthew".

Mary paused her chewing momentarily. Why had Matthew called her father? Why was her father bringing it up with her? "Oh?" She asked uninterestedly after swallowing her Special K.

"He wanted to apologise for leaving without saying goodbye. He said he had a fabulous night last night- said he'd remember it for the rest of his life!" Robert exclaimed, obviously proud that he'd hosted such a memorable party.

"Did he really?" Mary smiled slyly into her cereal bowl. "That's nice of him to say."

"He is a lovely young man, isn't he?" Robert said fondly. "Did he stay out with you when you went for your walk last night?"

Mary picked up on the affectionate tone in her father's voice. It was the tone he always used when speaking about a boy, right before suggesting that Mary should go on a date with said boy. Was her Dad about to suggest she should date Matthew? _Please God_.

"Yes, he did. He paid for me to get a cab back home, in fact." She said, hoping to endear Matthew to her father even more.

"Oh, what a gentleman. You know, I was always sorry that your mother and I couldn't give you girls a brother to look after you, but at least I found Matthew, eh? He can be a brother to you all." Robert smiled.

Mary's heart dropped so far she thought it had fallen out of her body. A _brother_? Given what they'd done mere hours earlier, that was disgusting, as well as disappointing.

"Mmm." Was all Mary could say, stirring her cereal around. Clearly she didn't have to worry about her father suspecting anything romantic between her and Matthew- he'd see it all as sibling affection.

"Anyway," Robert said, seeing that his daughter wasn't in the mood for conversation, but attributing it to tiredness. "I should get back to my study." He patted Mary's shoulder on his way out.

…

Mary went up the stairs to Sybil's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Sybil called.

"Hi, are you busy?" Mary asked as she opened the door.

"No, no. Just stalking people on Facebook." Sybil replied, patting a spot on the bed next to her for Mary to sit on. She set her laptop down next to her. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, really. Just a bit hungover from last night. Did you have a nice time with Tom?"

"Yes, it was lovely." Sybil beamed. "He was quite embarrassed about his flat but it was really cool! His life seems so low-key and laid back. It's amazing." Sybil said wistfully. "And he did everything he could to make sure I was comfortable- he even woke up early to make me breakfast!" She recalled, her face lighting up at the memory.

Mary smiled at her younger sister. Although Sybil had always been a cheery person, it was heart-warming to see her so genuinely happy because of love- Mary had recently discovered what that feels like, after all. "He seems like a good guy. I mean, I didn't get to speak to him much last night, but Matthew always speaks highly of him."

Sybil nodded vigorously, glad that she was now able to talk about Tom with her sister. "It's worked out so nicely that he and Matthew are best friends. It was a rather funny scene when Matthew found out about us!"

Mary laughed lightly before becoming more sombre. "Sybil, why have you been so worried about Mum and Dad finding out about him?" She asked seriously. "Do you think they'd be angry if they knew?"

"Of course they would, Mary!" Sybil laughed, humourlessly this time. "He's the complete opposite of what they want us to date. He's so intelligent and well-read, he writes articles in his free time and tries to get them published, but Mum and Dad won't care about that, will they? All they'll focus on is the fact that he didn't do A-levels and his father is a builder. Any prospective suitors of ours may as well send through their CVs and bank statements straight to our parents. Nothing else seems to matter." She finished in an uncharacteristically bitter tone.

"I know." Mary said forlornly.

Sybil eyed her sister curiously. "What's worrying you? Is there someone…?" She trailed off, but her meaning was clear.

Mary debated whether to tell Sybil the truth or not, especially now that she was with Matthew's best friend. But she knew that Sybil always put loyalty first- plus, Mary could really use the advice of someone who knew exactly what she was going through. "Yes, there is." She began quietly. "Matthew." She stated simply.

To her surprise, Sybil merely smiled knowingly. "I thought so." She said.

"What?" Mary asked.

"Just from the way the two of you were around each other last night. You spent the whole night either by his side or looking for him, and he was the same with you. Did anything happen after I left with Tom?"

Mary winced slightly. She and Sybil were close, but she was still a private person and didn't much want to share illicit details with her baby sister. "Yeah…well, everyone else left, and we…ended up staying in a hotel. In the same room." Mary tried to convey her meaning with her eyes.

Sybil clapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from squealing. "Oh my God! Mary!" She giggled. "That's so cute! Well, not _cute_, but you know…"

Mary couldn't help laughing. "I am really happy about it." She admitted shyly. "But, like you, I don't want to tell Mum and Dad."

Sybil tilted her head sympathetically. "I'm sure they won't object to Matthew. He's a lawyer, he works at a fairly high-powered firm, Mum and Dad have known him for months and they love him! Dad said the other day that Matthew's like the son he never had."

"Precisely! That's the problem!" Mary said frustratedly. At Sybil's confused expression, she continued, "Dad told me just now that he's glad he met Matthew because now me, you and Edith have an older brother. That's how he sees Matthew's relationship to us!"

"But isn't that a good thing, in a way? It means they see him as part of the family, which he sort of would be if he was your boyfriend. So it wouldn't be a massive adjustment for them to make." Sybil reasoned.

"I'm afraid I don't agree, as much as I'd like for you to be correct." Mary sighed. "Think about it - Matthew is gorgeous, successful and gentlemanly. If any 'well-bred' guy with even half of one of those qualities walks by me, Mum and Dad immediately start praying that we'll fall in love. Matthew's been around for ages, he became one of my best friends- and nothing. Not even a hint of 'why don't you and Matthew try it on?' I know he was with Lavinia, but a boy being attached has never stood in the way of their match-making. If Dad saw Matthew in the same way he sees people like James Chamberlain, he wouldn't view him as a brother to us- he'd view him as a potential suitor. Dad knows that Matthew's mum is a midwife with the NHS, and his dad was a teacher in a state school before he passed away. In short- Matthew is out of bounds."

"You don't know that." Sybil weakly reassured.

"I do, actually. Mum explicitly said to me a while ago that Matthew, and all men like him, would be inappropriate partners for me." Mary explained the whole conversation to Sybil, whose jaw dropped open in astonishment.

"Jesus Christ. Are they really that narrow-minded?" Sybil shook her head in anger. The sisters sat in silence for a minute, each lamenting their lack of freedom. "I know we're lucky to come from a rich family and to have been so well provided for," Sybil broke the silence, "but sometimes I think life would have been so much easier if we were from a 'normal' family."

"I definitely agree with you there." Mary said sadly.

…

_A/N: oh no! Will Mary let her parents be an obstacle to her relationship with Matthew? Given the title to this story, I thought it would only be fairly to give Mary her own conflict (between being a good Crawley/doing her duty and following her heart) now that Matthew's conflict (between his duty to Lavinia and his feelings for Mary) has been resolved. _


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: I know some of you don't like the return of any kind of conflict, but I assure you- it's really not that bad! There are only about three more chapters, and they're pretty much completely light-hearted _

…

_My parents are out for drinks, Sybil's out with Tom and Edith's working late. Come over? _

Matthew grinned as he read Mary's text. He had just left the office (at 5.30pm on the dot, miraculously) to go home, but was more than happy to take a detour to Mary's empty house. It was Wednesday, and he'd not been able to see her since he dropped her home on Sunday morning; he'd had long days in the office on Monday and Tuesday and she'd been unable to meet him during their lunchbreak. This meant they'd had to make do with phonecalls, which, Matthew realised, were nowhere near as pleasurable as Mary's physical company.

_Definitely. See you in half an hour_.

…

"Hi, loser." Mary greeted as she opened the door to a smiling Matthew.

"I think we need to have a conversation where I explain to you the concept of 'endearments'." Matthew suggested. Without waiting for her retort, he stepped into the house, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply. He'd almost forgotten how good it felt.

"Wow." Mary said under her breath as Matthew pulled away. That was a _good_ kiss. His lips were softer and even tastier than she'd remembered.

Having satisfied his craving for her to some extent, Matthew noticed Mary's attire. "You're wearing an apron. Are you cooking for me?" He smiled excitedly at the prospect.

Mary shook her head as she turned to walk to the kitchen. "Actually, no. I am making _myself_ some dinner. I didn't know what you'd want, but you can raid the fridge and see what you fancy."

Matthew followed her, curious to see what she was cooking. He halted when he saw what was on the counter and raised an eyebrow at her. "You're making instant noodles?"

"Yes." Ignoring the patronising tone in his voice, she put a saucepan of water on the hob and turned the heat on.

"OK. First question- why don't you just heat water in the kettle like a normal person?"

"Because, Nigella, the kettle is broken." Came the dry response.

"Fair enough. Second question- why are you wearing an apron?"

"Because…I like this top and I didn't want any water to splash on it." Mary replied rather pathetically, gesturing to her chiffon blouse.

Matthew knew that she'd think he was laughing at her, but he couldn't help his wide grin- she was unknowingly adorable sometimes.

"Well I'm glad you're taking precautions." Matthew walked to stand behind her and encircled her waist with his arms. "I like you in this top too." He dropped a couple of affectionate kisses on her shoulder, indulging in the ability to do this so freely.

Mary, although smiling, gently nudged him away. "You're distracting me." She was only half-joking; the feel of Matthew's lips on her, even his mere presence, instantly transported her back to Saturday night in that glorious king-size bed, making her unable to concentrate on anything else.

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle the noodles if I turn away and have a look through the fridge?" He asked very seriously. He chuckled when he received an eye-roll in response. "Maybe we should plan what to say if your parents end up returning home early again. We didn't recover so well last time." Matthew suggested as he surveyed the contents of the refrigerator.

"Er, I think you mean that _you_ didn't recover so well. The only reason they didn't suspect anything was because I was able to form a coherent sentence."

"Yes, yes, I forgot- you're amazing at everything." Matthew goaded. "I don't know why I-"

"Oh shit!"

"What?" Matthew whipped around to see what had happened.

"I dropped the sachet in the saucepan." Mary said forlornly.

…

A little while later, Mary settled down on the sofa with Matthew and her bowl of chicken noodles. Matthew had heroically risked his life by fishing the sachet out of the boiling water with a fork, before making himself a sandwich.

"Do you want some?" Mary twirled some noodles around her fork and held them out in front of Matthew's face.

"Are you sure you don't want us each to take one end and meet in the middle, like in Lady and the Tramp?" Matthew asked deliberately mushily.

"Just eat it." Mary shoved the fork into his mouth.

Matthew chuckled as he chewed the (rather delicious) noodles. He marvelled at how Mary could be so forward and confident in bed (although, to be fair, they were both more confident than usual owing to adrenaline and the remaining dregs of alcohol in their systems) but could still be uncomfortable with less passionate ways of showing affection. He'd called her 'darling' on the phone a few times but she'd merely teased him, telling him he needed to update his vocabulary to the 21st century.

"Is that sandwich enough for you?" Mary asked, wondering why Matthew had opted for something so small and simple when he loved to cook, and they had a kitchen full of ingredients to rival most Michelin-starred restaurants.

"Yeah, it'll be fine- I spied something in the kitchen that I want for dessert."

"Fatty." Mary teased, poking his stomach. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, finishing off their budget dinners in the grand townhouse.

"So what time will your parents be home?" Matthew asked after he'd swallowed his last mouthful.

"Probably not before 8pm, they've gone for a few cocktails with Dad's new CFO or something. Why?" Mary asked slyly, thinking she could probably guess what Matthew had in mind.

Matthew feigned innocence. "I was just wondering."

"Hmm, sure." Mary replied, unconvinced. She stood up and took Matthew's empty plate from his hands. "So what was it that you wanted for dessert?" Her journey back to the kitchen was abruptly halted when Matthew's arm curled around her possessively.

"You." He said into her ear, his voice brimming with desire.

Mary almost dropped the plates on the floor.

…

"I like your bed." Matthew said approvingly. After their rather intense round of love-making, in which they didn't even take the time to undress properly before going at it, they'd cuddled up under the covers (ignoring the fact that it was only just 7pm).

"I'm glad," Mary grinned, her head resting on the same pillow as Matthew's, "as you'll most likely be spending a lot of time here from now on." She suggestively raised an eyebrow at him.

"I should hope so." He winked flirtatiously. His lips sought hers for a quick kiss. And then another. He couldn't get enough of her, it seemed. "But why don't we just go to my place from now on? It'll be easier, and you can stay the night." The truth was, as much as Matthew found the Crawley's house breath-taking, the scale of it and the haughty atmosphere was quite intimidating to him. His childhood home had been small, warm and cosy, and he'd deliberately chosen a flat which mirrored it.

"Mmm, that's true." Mary pondered the suggestion as her fingers lightly played over Matthew's chest. "Although, I'm not sure I could come up with enough excuses for my absences in the evening. My parents will start getting suspicious."

"Just say you're working late. Or that you're with friends." Matthew turned on his side so that they were fully facing each other. He began playing with the strap of her bra, which he hadn't gotten round to undoing earlier.

"I can't really use the 'working late' excuse unless I only stay at yours for about half an hour. Travelling from the office to yours, and then from yours to here, will take an hour-and-a-half at least. They know I don't have that much on at the moment."

"Half an hour is enough time to do things." Matthew said cheekily, earning a playful scowl and slap on his chest. "Just say you're staying with friends, then."

"I don't have enough friends for that to be a plausible alibi." Came the rueful reply.

Matthew tried not to look piteous, but he did feel sorry for her; she was the most amazing, captivating girl, but her 'social circle', as the Crawley family always called it, seemed to reject her friendship in favour of making her the subject of gossip. Thankfully, she'd made a couple of good friends while at university, and she had one or two friends who she'd grown up with, such as Isobel McIntyre. "OK, well I suppose I'll just have to make love to you in your massive, well-laundered bed, then." Matthew lay on his back and sighed dramatically, as if resigning himself to a great sacrifice on his part.

"Poor Matthew." Mary stuck her bottom lip out in a mock-pout. Her body moved over his and her fingers slid up the side of his face and into his hair. "I'll make it up to you." She whispered. Her tongue slowly traced his top lip before kissing him deeply.

Matthew smiled into the kiss. _Round two_.

…

"Are they still not dry?" Matthew whined. It was Saturday afternoon and he was lying down on Mary's bed while she sat next to him, painting her toe-nails. Apparently this was a very long and drawn out process- and one which Mary took very seriously, as he'd learned from her smack when he'd playfully nudged her arm in the middle of a paint-stroke.

Robert was in Edinburgh for the week, taking part in some sort of finance-related conference, while Cora was spending the day shopping. Edith and Sybil were out with their respective friends (although Mary suspected that Sybil must really be with a certain security guard), so Mary took the opportunity to have Matthew over, allowing them to spend the day together. She'd managed to briefly visit Matthew at his flat the previous night, claiming to her parents that she was having post-work drinks with her colleagues.

It wasn't that the idea of her ever going to Matthew's flat would horrify her parents- she'd visited him several times while they were just friends, and he'd hung out at her house a few times too, but things had changed since then. She didn't worry about her father, but she felt like her mother was on high alert that something might be afoot between them. Over the last few days, furthermore, Edith had been rather suspicious too; she'd seen how close they'd been during Robert and Cora's anniversary party, plus she'd noticed Matthew's name flash up on Mary's phone several times. All this made Mary rather paranoid, and therefore extra-secretive about her meetings with Matthew. Moreover, she knew she'd have to tell her parents about him eventually- and when she did, she knew they'd be even less likely to approve if they thought she'd been sneaking around behind their backs beforehand. Despite her age, Mary was still expected to run all her dates past her mother before she was even allowed to meet them. Mary being seen out and about with an unsuitable boy would fire up the rumour mill and could damage the family's reputation, she was repeatedly told. Given that malicious stories had been spread about her liaisons with men whom she'd never even met before, she presumed that any relationship of hers would be gossiped about and speculated on regardless of who the boy was. But, this was _Matthew_, and she was falling more deeply in love with him every day. Therefore, she wanted to handle the situation as carefully and as delicately as possible. It might seem absurd to most people to be so clandestine, but to Mary it was just good sense.

"Almost." Mary replied, blowing cool air onto her neatly-painted toes. "You didn't have to sit there and watch me, you know."

"I know." Matthew sighed, raising his hand to lazily run his fingers along her thigh. "Oh, by the way, my mother wants to have you round for dinner at some point. Maybe next week?"

"So soon?" Mary was taken aback. They'd only been together for a week!

"She's eager to meet the incredible new girlfriend whom her son can't stop boasting about." Matthew smiled, sitting up enough so that he could kiss her.

Mary's surprise at potentially being introduced to Matthew's mother dissolved at the feel of his lips. Forgetting about her toe-nails, she turned her body so that she could deepen the kiss more easily. His tongue licked along her bottom lip, causing her mouth to open and her head to spin. She steadied herself by resting a hand on his chest.

Matthew's hands tugged on her waist, pulling her down on top of him as he lay back on the quilt. He moaned slightly as she positioned herself so that her legs were tangled with his, their bodies completely against each other. Craving the feel of her skin, he gently clutched the material of her dress and began dragging it up, hoping to uncover as much skin as possible without breaking contact with her mouth.

In the back of her mind, Mary was very pleased with her decision to invite Matthew over today. It was so nice to just be able to kiss like this, without having to worry about rushing to ensure that they had sex before one of them had to leave. Although, the way this kiss was heating up, with Matthew's hands on her now bare back and toying with her lacy underwear, she suspected that they might not be merely kissing for much longer…

For some bizarre reason, the thought of her mother entered into her mind. Pushing this un-enticing thought away, Mary reached her hands down to pull at the hem of Matthew's T-shirt. She loved the feel of his strong torso under her delicate hand, and the trail of hair that led all the way from his chest down to his-

"Mary?" Cora's voice was right outside her bedroom door. Mary almost choked on Matthew's tongue with shock and fright. Rolling away from Matthew, she began adjusting her dress and frantically searching the room for somewhere to hide him.

"Can I come in?" Cora asked. Panic set in as Mary realised she hadn't locked the door- she'd not thought she'd needed to, her mother was supposed to be out all day!

"Just a second, I'm getting changed." Mary tried to delay her mother's entrance. "Quick, in here!" She whispered, pulling a rather put-out Matthew by the hand, towards one end of her room.

"Why can't she just come in? We're not even doing anything anymore." Matthew sounded particularly annoyed when whispering his last remark.

"Just get in here." Mary pushed him into her walk-in wardrobe before hurrying back to the door. Matthew was right, but having a man in her bedroom while the house was empty wouldn't be something her mother would take lightly. This wasn't the way she wanted her parents to find out about her and Matthew. "Hi, Mum." She said as casually as she could, standing in the doorway to ensure her mother didn't enter the bedroom.

"Did you not hear me? I've been calling your name for about two minutes." Cora asked.

"I vaguely heard…" _But I was too busy making out with my new, secret boyfriend_.

"Why are you getting changed?" Cora looked curiously at her daughter's dishevelled state.

"I was going to pop over to the beautician. What is it?" Underneath her cool exterior was a bag of jitters. She had a horrible feeling that Matthew might sneeze or have a coughing fit or something, and that would definitely be difficult to think of a cover for.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Cora's eyes lit up in a way that could only mean one thing. Mary grew even more uncomfortable.

"Can we talk about it tonight? I should probably go now." Mary said with a sense of urgency that her mother found peculiar.

"Alright, fine. I'm going back out in a couple of hours, for tea, but I'll be back for dinner." Cora eyed her daughter suspiciously before leaving to go downstairs.

Mary closed and locked the door behind her. Opening the wardrobe door, she found a rather entertained Matthew rifling through her clothes.

"I've never seen you in _this_ before." He raised an eyebrow as he held out a barely-there lacy black camisole with matching girl-briefs. "Who do you wear this for?" He added, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"As you can see, the label is still on it. I bought it because it was on sale but I've never worn it." Mary replied, snatching it away from him and putting it back in its rightful place. She took great pride in keeping her wardrobe in a very particular order.

"Well, there's a first time for everything…" Matthew had to hold back the drool as he pictured Mary sauntering around in that lingerie, the lace gliding over her skin as he slipped it off her.

"Only if you're a good boy." The misty-eyed look on his face was quite amusing to Mary. Not all men were that turned on by the mere idea of their girlfriends in negligee, and she liked it.

"I'm always a good boy." Matthew replied innocently. "So what did your Mum want?" He pulled her to him, his hands clasped behind her back.

"Didn't you hear?"

"Nope. I heard voices, but couldn't make out what you were saying. Must be sound-proof in there. Although, to be honest, I was rather distracted by all your sexy outfits." He grinned, leaning down to kiss her cheek…and jaw…and neck.

"Oh," Mary sighed, partly in response to Matthew's answer, and partly as a way of releasing the tension that he was causing to build up inside her. "She just wanted to talk, but we'll talk later."

"Good." She felt Matthew say against her neck. She could feel his hands resume their earlier position (before Cora had interrupted them).

"Matthew," she warned, "she's still downstairs." Fearing she might collapse on her jelly-legs, she clutched his T-shirt for support.

"Then we'll be quiet." Matthew replied in between kisses, his fingers creeping beneath the waistband of her underwear. They'd 'got it on' (as Tom so sensitively put it when he asked Matthew how their evening had been) in his bed the previous evening, but it seemed that the more he had of her, the more he wanted.

"I don't know if I can be." Mary was already struggling to contain her moans as she felt one of Matthew's warm hands on her buttock, while the nimble fingers on the other worked on unclasping her bra.

Matthew smirked at this. He loved that he- _he_, of all people- could have this effect on her. It still boggled his mind that, with all the choice she had, she'd chosen _him_. And she loved him. He was her first true love. Him! He felt like he'd won the greatest lottery of all time.

"Let's go in your wardrobe, then." Matthew suggested, dragging her backwards towards it.

"What? With all my clothes?" Mary shook out of her reverie slightly at the thought of her beautiful clothes possibly falling victim to their energetic love-making.

"Yes, that wardrobe." Matthew said drily, desperately hoping she'd stop talking soon so they could get down to business. "Come on." He urged. He pulled back, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "I know you'll probably be more aroused at the sight of your Gucci dress than at me, but I'm OK with that."

"Shut up." Mary giggled, finally succumbing to her beautiful boyfriend and his clever idea.

…

_A/N: as ever, please let me know your thoughts!_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: wow, we've passed the 100-reviews mark! Thanks so much, guys. I'm really glad you all enjoyed the last chapter. I won't say much about this chapter- I'll let you read it and form your own opinions!_

…

Matthew looked over at the clock again. 7pm. Dammit.

It was Wednesday, and he hadn't been able to see Mary since Saturday. They'd had a brilliant day, and it was the most time they'd spent together as a couple, but he missed her. He wanted to be able to see her everyday, but with the great distance between their respective living-quarters, his busy work schedule and Mary's busy social schedule, they'd been able to see each other only three times since they got together.

He'd been hoping to leave the office by 6.30pm at the latest, so that he could meet Mary for dinner near her house. As luck would have it, though, his department meeting was still dragging on, and it didn't look like he'd be able to leave for another half an hour. _It would be too late_, Matthew realised disappointedly.

"Actually, I think we only need the partners in for this last bit." The partner who was chairing the meeting said, some time later. "The rest of you can go."

Matthew hurriedly checked the time again- 7.10pm. He hastily made his way back to his office, which was empty, as the other associate was away on sick-leave, and took his phone out to call Mary.

"Hi, where are you?" Her voice asked concernedly as she picked up. Matthew had promised to call her at 6.30pm and let her know where to meet. She'd been waiting by the phone for forty minutes!

"I'm so sorry," Matthew apologised, "that bloody meeting just wouldn't end. But I'm done now, where do you want to go for dinner?" All annoyance at his dreary office life dissipated at the thought of seeing Mary soon.

"I don't know if I can do dinner anymore…" Mary said regretfully.

"What? Why?" The prospect of meeting with Mary is what had gotten him through this blasted day!

"I need to be home at 8pm- the daughter of one of Dad's associates is coming over, they want to talk to me about my job because they're thinking of going into journalism. Dad says I'd be doing him a favour if I spoke to her." She said wearily. Although they'd met more over the last ten days than they normally would have had they just been friends, Mary felt like she'd hardly seen Matthew. At any given moment, her overwhelming emotion was guaranteed to be the need to see him. She felt out of place if she wasn't with him. "So if you came to Belgravia now, I'd probably only be able to see you for about twenty minutes, maximum."

"That's alright, I'll still come!" Matthew said enthusiastically. Twenty minutes seeing her, holding her, kissing her, would be infinitely better than spending the rest of the evening on his own, even if it meant he'd have to travel for another hour in total while he was exhausted.

"You're sweet." Mary said appreciatively, "but I know you must be tired and you've got your presentation tomorrow. You should go home and rest."

"But-" Matthew began to protest.

"I insist." Came the firm reply.

"Alright…I probably should prepare a bit tonight, actually. I meant to go over some of it today but fucking Simon kept asking me for help with his claim form. I'm not even in his department!"

Mary had to suppress a laugh at hearing Matthew's complaints. "You do know that you're allowed to say 'no' to people?" She asked rhetorically. He was a naturally hard-working man, but he did give himself too much to do sometimes."You're too nice, darling."

Matthew felt his heart burst into a shower of confetti. "What did you call me?" He asked, the wide smile on his face conveyed through his voice.

"What?" Mary asked, confused. She suddenly realised what she'd said. _Oh, the hypocrisy_. "Oh. Erm…I…"

"You called me 'darling'! Do you think I'm a darling?" Matthew decided to milk this for all it was worth. It wasn't everyday you caught Mary Crawley uttering endearments to people- even to people she loved.

"Shut up." Mary replied stubbornly, causing Matthew to laugh.

Deciding not to embarrass her further, Matthew changed the subject. "By the way, Mum texted me today. She still doesn't really know how to text properly, so it was a bit of a struggle to read It, but I think she wants you over for dinner tomorrow. She apologises for the short notice, but it's the best day for her this week."

"I've got to go to Brighton tomorrow for work, remember? I'll be back quite late."

"Crap, yeah, I forgot. Hold on a sec." Matthew took the phone away from his ear momentarily so that he could re-read (or re-decipher) his mother's message. "She says she could do Friday too, but she won't have as much time to cook properly."

"Oh, I'm actually busy on Friday night too." Mary replied as breezily as she could.

Matthew picked up on the slight change in her tone. "You are? What are you doing?" He asked slowly.

Mary could tell that he was on to her. He knew her too well. She briefly considered lying to him, but decided against it. If there was anything she'd learned from the whole Lavinia episode, it was that keeping secrets was a sure-fire way to damage a relationship. "I'm…going on a date." She answered quietly, recoiling as she awaited the answer. There was silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry, what?" Much to Matthew's concern, Mary hadn't sounded like she was joking, but he very much hoped that he'd misunderstood her. They hadn't talked about whether they were 'exclusive' or not, but surely, after all they'd been through, that wasn't necessary? They were madly in love!

"My mum…" Mary trailed off. Sensing that that wasn't sufficient explanation for Matthew (as it would have been for Edith or Sybil), she elaborated. "On Saturday, my Mum told me that she'd bumped into an old friend of hers while she was shopping. They talked and the woman mentioned that her son had recently moved to London- they lived in Texas before. They're one of those rich oil families." She paused for an affirming sound from Matthew, like he always made when she was telling him stories, but she was met with silence. "So, anyway, my Mum saw an opportunity to set me up with someone and she told me I had to meet him for dinner on Friday. And you know how she gets, she won't take no for an answer. And Dad's not here either, so it was even more difficult to object."

Matthew had to pause to make sure that she had actually finished her explanation- it hadn't clarified a great deal. "And you didn't tell her that you're seeing me because…?"

Mary swallowed nervously. She'd naively hoped that Matthew would understand her predicament, but of course he didn't. His girlfriend had just told him that she was going on a date with another man- he should be bouncing off the walls! "Because…" She faltered- how was she supposed to explain this to him?

"Mary, whatever it is, just tell me." Matthew prodded. He'd never heard Mary sound so unsure of herself, and it was terrifying him.

Mary took a deep breath. "This might be hard for you to understand."

"OK." Came the curt reply. He wanted her to get on with it so that he could stop worrying about whether he was really her boyfriend or not.

"Basically…you know how my sisters and I are all expected to marry a certain kind of person?" Mary thought this might be easier if she could hear his voice intermittently, to give her an indication of how he was responding to her words.

"Yeah…" Matthew currently sounded confused.

"Well…you're…" Mary closed her eyes tightly, knowing these next few words were going to hurt. "You're not that kind of person." She said quickly, treating it like she was ripping off a band-aid.

Matthew was lost for words. In some ways, he could take that as flattery- most of the boys Mary was made to date were out-of-touch, over-privileged slimeballs, but he didn't think it was meant to be a compliment. "What does _that_ mean?"

Mary detected the hints of pain and anger in his voice, and it made her want to cry. "You know _I_ love you." She reassured him. "It's just, my parents probably wouldn't approve of us."

"Your parents know me, they love me!" Matthew cried, frustrated that Mary was making so little sense. "I always got the feeling they were trying to push me onto one of you. No other client of mine has invited me to all of his parties and asked me to stay the night with their unattached daughter!"

"I don't think that's what they were trying to do, Matthew." Mary said gently. "They see you as being like a brother to us."

"A _brother_?" Matthew was as disgusted as Mary was upon hearing of this concept. "But why? Why wouldn't they see me as a potential suitor? I know I wasn't single when I met them, but I am now. Well, as far as they know. You know what I mean." He was beginning to confuse himself now.

"Matthew." Mary sighed, putting her head in her hand. _Please don't make me spell this out for you_. "They don't see you as a prospect for me, or my sisters, because you don't tick all their boxes." That was the most sugar-coated way she could say it.

"Mary, please just speak plainly." Matthew pleaded.

"My parents want sons-in-law who are from a specific sort of background. They need to be wealthy and well-educated." She paused to think about how to phrase her next sentence.

"I'm well-educated. I'm not exactly wealthy, but I rent a place on my own and have a car, which is more than most people our age can say, and I work in a City law firm." Matthew argued, interrupting her.

"Yes, but, Matthew…"

"But _what_, Mary?" Matthew's voice was growing stern. There was something she wasn't telling him and it was infuriating.

"Your family." Mary said meekly. "People from my family are expected to be with people from similar families. My ancestors were aristocrats and my parents are still clinging onto that. They don't want me to settle for anything less." She immediately regretted her choice of words.

"So you're _settling_ for me?" Matthew didn't bother trying to hide his hurt. She was making it sound as if they were the Princess and the Pauper!

"_I_ don't see it that way, but my parents would." Mary frantically tried to explain.

"But you do see it that way, otherwise you wouldn't be keeping this a secret. If you disagreed with your parents, you'd tell them. You've had no qualms about arguing with them before." Matthew said firmly. It killed him to think that Mary, the woman who he already thought of as the love of his life, saw him as something to be ashamed of. "So what were you going to do, hmm? Just tag me along as long as you wanted and keep me hidden from your parents forever? Shove me into your fucking wardrobe everytime your wealthy relatives came over so you wouldn't have to admit that you were seeing someone whose parents actually had to work to make ends meet?" Matthew was losing control over the volume of his voice.

"Matthew!" Mary cried, horrified that he was so upset. The last thing she'd wanted was to make Matthew feel inadequate. She hadn't kept their relationship a secret because he was lacking in any way whatsoever- he was perfect! It was all down to her narrow-minded family and friends, and her desire to keep him protected from their judgment. She tried to stop crying and steady her voice. "That's not what I meant. Please, darling-"

"Don't call me that." Matthew cut her off sharply. "And I know perfectly well what you meant. I'm an embarrassment to you." He could feel tears threatening to fall, and he didn't want her to hear him cry. "I've got to go."

The line went dead.

…

The next couple of days were probably the most difficult of Mary's life. She'd always thought that finding out she'd been cheated on, or having malicious rumours spread about her, would be her lowest points, but this was far, far worse. Knowing what it was like to be blissfully happy, to love and to feel so loved in return- and then to potentially lose it all, through your own fault…it was heartbreaking.

She'd called Matthew three or four times on Wednesday night, after their argument, but the calls had all been cut off prematurely, not even allowing her to leave a message. She'd resorted to sending him a text, asking if they could speak so that she could explain, but there was no reply. Wednesday night had given her no sleep at all.

Realising she couldn't call in sick on Thursday because she was needed in Brighton, she struggled to get by at work, her thoughts always of Matthew. Her colleagues noticed her lack of productivity, but seemed to attribute it to an ability to handle the pressure of their assignment. This only made Mary's mood worse- how dare they think her incapable! All this meant that she felt she couldn't call in sick on Friday either; she forced herself to get some sleep on Thursday night, so that she could go back to her usual self on Friday as much as possible, to prove everybody wrong.

Now, it was Friday evening. The night of her date. That afternoon, she'd sent two messages- one to her mother, explaining that she'd be going to dinner straight from work, and another to her date, explaining that she was very sorry but she was unwell, and she'd get in touch when she was next free (which would be never). Jumping onto the tube as the doors shut, she headed to Clapham.

…

Matthew slammed his office door shut behind him, startling on-lookers. He didn't care. He was in the worst mood of his life and people could think whatever they wanted of him. He stormed outside, and the world greeted him with a torrential downpour of rain. _Brilliant_.

He'd considered calling in sick on Thursday, and then again on Friday. But he realised that staying at his flat alone would probably be the least sensible option- it would only give him time to mull over the things Mary had said to him. Plus, now that she'd been at his flat, albeit relatively briefly, everything reminded him of her- his kitchen, where he'd made her help him cook, his little dining table, which they'd eaten at, his sofa, where they'd laughed over an episode of Family Guy, his bed, where they'd…

He'd seen her calls, but had cancelled them before it reached the answer-phone. _I don't want to hear her try and excuse what she said_, he thought. Yet, he still missed her terribly. He'd picked up his phone a few times, on the verge of calling her, before mentally slapping himself. _She basically said you were beneath her, and you're still running behind her like a little lap-dog? You'll only confirm her opinion of you._

"The Northern Line is operating with severe delays." Said the voice over the tannoy in the tube station. _Fucking great_.

Eventually, he arrived home. At least the universe had the good grace to make it stop raining during his walk from the station. Searching for his keys, he stomped up the stairs to his flat. He walked over to his door, and froze.

Mary rose to her feet awkwardly. She'd knocked on Matthew's door, but there'd been no answer. _He either isn't home yet_, she reasoned, _or he knows it's me and doesn't want to see me. Still, he has to come outside at some point_, she'd thought as she'd settled herself on the floor.

They stared at each other in silence, each trying to read the other.

"How long have you been here?" Matthew asked, for want of something to say. He saw that her hair and coat were wet.

"A couple of hours." Mary replied softly, beyond relieved that he didn't seem to be angry.

"How did you get through the front door?" Matthew was still stood a few yards away from her.

"I was standing outside for a while and then the people who live below you arrived and let me in."

Matthew only nodded in response. She'd been standing outside in the rain for goodness knows how long. He noticed her shivering slightly. It was a pretty cold evening, for July, and the flats had awful insulation so it was always chilly. "Come in." He gestured towards the door before walking over and opening it, letting her in first. "Sit down." He said, as they entered the living room.

Mary watched him move towards the kitchen and did as he said, surprised at the lack of hurt or anger on his face. She'd fully expected to have to fight her way through the door. He returned a few minutes later with two large mugs in his hands- he handed one to her.

"Matthew, you didn't have to make me tea." She said gently, but was very pleased that he had- she was freezing and had been soaked through after standing outside in the rain. But it made her feel even worse that he was being so sweet and considerate to her when she didn't deserve it.

"It's fine." Matthew said shortly, shrugging off his blazer and taking a long sip from his mug.

They sat silently as they drank. Mary waited until he'd finished his tea before speaking. "I wanted to talk to you about…you know." She said tentatively. Matthew's head only nodded lightly at this. "I want you to know- I could _never_ see you as an embarrassment, or as something to be ashamed of. Never, ever, ever." She emphasised, shifting towards him. "The reason I think my parents would object- it has nothing to do with you 'not being good enough'. It's entirely to do with their delusions of grandeur, their need to maintain their 'status' and 'reputation' in society. I know it must have sounded hurtful and ridiculous, but please don't be offended. You were right- I should have just told my Mum about you when she told me about that date. Actually, I should have told both my parents about you the day after we got together. But I was worried…people in my social circle are unreservedly judgmental, and I didn't want _you_, as well as myself, to be exposed to that if it wasn't necessary. I know what it's like to be scrutinised by my parents, and I know what it's like to be the subject of gossip because I've fallen short of society's standards in some way, and I don't want either of those for you. I think the only reason I'm so worried about what everyone would think is because I love you so much." She bravely took hold of Matthew's hand. He didn't move it away. "I really, really love you. You're wonderful." She tenderly stroked his cheek, glad to see him looking into her eyes. "I don't care about your family, or money, or any of that. In fact, I'm _glad_ that we're from different backgrounds. I like that you tease me about boarding school and the housemaid and eating pâté all the time." She said affectionately. "I honestly don't think I could bear to be with someone who had the exact same life as me. I couldn't bear to be with someone who wasn't you." Her heart lightened immeasurably upon seeing Matthew smile at her. But there was still one more thing she needed to say. "I'm sorry. I hope you're not still angry."

Her answer came in the form of a searing kiss. She was almost knocked backwards with the force of it. The feel of his lips, and all the love that they carried, was nothing short of glorious. She felt herself being pulled onto his lap and she happily obliged. The kiss deepened, both of them releasing all the pent-up worries and anxieties that they'd been feeling for the last two days, and rejoicing in the confirmation of their love for one another.

Needing breath, Matthew broke away. Mary's stomach somersaulted at the sight of his blue eyes, filled with adoration. It had almost been a week since she'd last seen him, and she realised now just how much she'd missed him.

"Thank you for that. I think I needed to hear it." Matthew said softly, leaning his head into her hand, which was still caressing his cheek.

"So you forgive me?" Mary asked hopefully. She was fairly sure that the kiss had been an acceptance of her apology, but she wanted to make sure.

"I think I forgave you as soon as I saw you sat on the floor in the corridor." Matthew chuckled. "You must have been freezing." He said sympathically, holding her close and nuzzling her neck.

"I'm warm now, thanks to you." Mary smiled into his hair as she ran her fingers through it. "You know," she said more seriously. "I _am_ going to tell my parents, and everyone else, about you. Soon."

"I know." Matthew said, pulling back to look at her. "And I want you to know that I understand your concerns about your parents- and everyone else. You've been telling me for months now about what they're like and what's expected of you, so I get it. I just never really gave much thought to how they viewed me and my background…I presumed the fact that I'm a lawyer would be enough to make me an equal amongst your circle. I suppose I didn't realise that family history and all the rest of it was so important."

Mary frowned slightly, concerned that he was still offended. It would be understandable if he was. "I don't think they understand what it's like for me, or Edith or Sybil. My parents only ever met people who were from privileged backgrounds, so finding a partner from a suitable family was never a problem, because all they knew were 'suitable families'! But it doesn't matter- I'll make them understand." She quickly assured him. "Besides, you're right when you say that they love you, so hopefully it won't take much persuasion to bring them round to the idea of us being together. And even if they didn't love you- even if they hated your guts- it wouldn't matter. Because _I_ would still adore you." She kissed him sweetly, finding it difficult because his lips were spread across his face in the broadest smile.

"Congratulations." Matthew said as she leaned back.

"For what?" Mary lovingly brushed the hair away from his forehead.

"You managed to freely express your emotions at length without spontaneously combusting. That's got to be a first for a Crawley, isn't it?" He goaded, suppressing a laugh at her unimpressed expression.

"Just for that, you're not getting any lovey-dovey talk for the next month." Mary said firmly, standing up from where she'd been perched on Matthew's leg.

"Your punishments are too cruel." Matthew grinned, holding onto her leg so that she couldn't escape. "By the way, how expensive is this skirt?" He asked, sliding his hand up her stockings to touch the hem of her sleek grey skirt.

"Pretty expensive. It's Dolce, I think. Why?"

"There's a rat problem in the corridor. They have fleas too. Did you put something down on the floor before you sat on it?"

"No…" Terror dawned on Mary's face. This was one of her favourite skirts! Had she just ruined it by sitting on rat-faeces and fleas?

"Oh dear…" Matthew said ominously, his face dead serious. "Oh wait, I think I can see a hole here, round the back. The fleas must have bitten through it!" He pointed to a part of her skirt that was out of sight for her.

"What? Where?" Mary frantically tugged her skirt around her waist, pulling the back to the front so that she could inspect her precious garment. There was nothing there. She looked up, to see Matthew fighting to keep his laughter in. She was an idiot.

"You're _such_ a knob." She slapped his arm as he ducked away from her swooping hand. "That's the last time I'm being nice to you." Leaving Matthew in hysterics on the sofa, she turned to walk to the kitchen.

"But you said you liked it when I tease you!" Matthew called. She merely narrowed her eyes at him.

On the inside, though, she was on cloud nine. Things were back to normal with Matthew, and she'd resolved to tell her parents about him soon, which meant they could stop sneaking around. She even had a little plan concocted.

…

_A/N: what do you think? This was originally going to be two separate chapters, but I didn't want to leave you guys with 'the line went dead' as the end of the chapter! Only one more to go!_


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: without further ado, here is the final chapter!_

…

"Hey, what's up?" Sybil asked as her eldest sister entered the kitchen. "Mum's gone to meet Dad at the airport." Robert was returning home from his conference in Edinburgh this morning, much to the girls' relief. They loved their mother but it was nice to have their father around to balance out her superficiality.

Mary yawned widely before she could respond. She'd spent most of the evening at Matthew's place, messaging her mother to say that her date with the Texan was going so well that she'd be back quite late. Meanwhile, however, she and Matthew had a _great_ time making up for the six days they'd been apart. All that physical exertion, coupled with the lack of sleep for the last few nights, was taking its toll on Mary.

"By the way, did I hear Mum correctly when she said you'd gone on a date with that ghastly Texas woman's son? Do you really want _her_ as your mother-in-law?"

"I didn't go on the date, but Mum doesn't know that." Mary replied, sitting down on one of the stools around the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Oh, good." Sybil settled down opposite Mary with her stir-fry. "I can't imagine Matthew would have been too pleased about you going. Do you want some?" She offered Mary some of her lunch.

Mary shook her head. "Actually, I wanted to propose something to you- Mum said she and Dad are going out this evening for dinner at around 6pm- why don't you invite Tom round, and I'll invite Matthew round? We can have a double-date." She smiled.

"Ooh! That's a brilliant idea." Sybil said excitedly. "But what about Edith?"

"She'll probably be in her room, reading about engines or whatever it is she does with her life." Mary replied drolly. "So you'll invite Tom?"

"Yep, I'll give him a ring now, in fact." Sybil manoeuvred off her stool, plate in hand, and scurried to the other room to fetch her phone.

…

Mary checked her watch. 5.56pm. She'd ordered Matthew to go and pick Tom up on his way, to make sure that they were both prompt. He hadn't known why it was so important to be exactly on time, but he obeyed her nonetheless.

"Sybil, why don't you go and start laying the table?" Mary suggested.

"OK. Have Mum and Dad actually left yet?" Sybil queried, on her way to the dining room.

"Yeah, they left a few minutes ago." Mary assured.

"Cool. This is going to be so much fun!" Sybil beamed, practically bouncing into the other room.

Mary wasn't sure that Sybil was correct in her assessment of the evening's proceedings. She drummed her fingertips on the back of the sofa, impatient.

"Mary, what are you up to this evening?" Robert asked as he and Cora walked into the living room, wondering why she was standing on her own in the middle of the room.

"Sybil and I are having a couple of friends over, hope that's OK." She said sweetly.

"Of course! It's been a while since you've had people over to the house. Do we know them?"

"I think you know one of them…" The doorbell saved Mary from further questioning. "I'll get it!" She offered hastily, marching towards the hallway.

Robert and Cora glanced at each other. Their daughter was behaving very strangely indeed.

Mary opened the door. "Hi." She said, accepting a quick kiss from Matthew and shaking Tom's outstretched hand.

"Thanks so much for having me over, Mary. Sybil told me it was your idea." Tom said gratefully.

"No problem, come in." Mary felt rather guilty at Tom's gratitude- she hadn't exactly invited him over to have a nice, quiet dinner.

"Matthew!" Robert exclaimed happily, seeing him enter the room. "Mary didn't tell me you were coming. Why didn't you tell me, Ma-" Robert paused upon seeing the second young man. "And you've brought a friend? I'm Robert Crawley and this is my wife, Cora." He approached the second man, extending his hand.

Matthew had been pretty startled to see that Mary's parents were present, but Tom felt like he'd been shot in the stomach. The mere idea of wealthy, nigh-aristocratic people intimidated him, but Sybil had added to his fear by telling him all about how strict they were. That, in addition to the fact that they were his girlfriend's parents, had him paralysed with terror; he managed to break free just enough to shake Robert's hand.

Robert waited for the young man to introduce himself. Seeing that Tom wasn't in a fit state to speak, Matthew interjected. "This is Tom Branson. He's my best friend, we worked together when I was training." He shot a look over at Mary, asking her what was going on. He had a feeling that her parents' presence wasn't an accident. She gave him a look that said she knew what she was doing.

Hearing voices, Sybil peered through the dining room doorway. Her eyes widened in excitement upon seeing that Tom and Matthew had arrived, then widened further in horror as she saw her parents speaking to them. What were they doing here?

"Sybil, your company has arrived." Cora called to her.

Sybil gingerly made her way into the room. She noticed that poor Tom looked absolutely terrified. "Hi, guys." She said to them both, giving Tom a comforting look.

Robert wondered why the atmosphere was so uneasy. "So, what's the occasion?" He asked, glancing between the four young adults. This was a rather odd gathering.

Mary took a deep breath. "Sybil and I wanted to introduce you to Tom and Matthew." She addressed her parents.

"What? We already know Matthew." Cora laughed lightly, although she found this situation more unsettling than humorous.

"Yes, but…" Mary looked over to Matthew. He gave her a small, supportive smile. "I wanted to formally introduce you to him. As my boyfriend."

There was pin-drop silence. The youngsters felt too afraid to breathe.

Robert blinked in confusion and took a moment to let the words register. He looked to Matthew, the boy he'd trusted to be a gentleman to his daughters. "Boyfriend?" He asked the young man.

Matthew swallowed nervously, unable to deduce whether the man was hurt or merely baffled. "I'm sorry, Robert." He began contritely, ignoring the glare from Mary. He guessed that she didn't want him to apologise, when they'd done nothing wrong, but Robert had been so kind to him and he didn't want him to think his trust had been betrayed. "I probably should have spoken to you about it, but…" He trailed off, realising he couldn't really explain just how things had developed between him and Mary.

"Yes, you should have." Cora piped up sternly. "I think this is all highly inappropriate. I do _not_ appreciate you going behind our back, Mary. And why would you choose to tell us in this way, causing a scene? You _know_ how these things should work." She hissed.

Mary threw her arms up in despair. "Mum, I'm not fifteen years old anymore! It's not like I'm fooling around with random boys, risking my safety- I shouldn't need your permission! This is ridiculous." She said, shaking her head in frustration. "Dad?" Mary turned to her father, hoping that he'd be more rational.

"Mary, perhaps this wasn't the most appropriate way to bring this up." He said gently. His tone might have been less docile had they not had company present. "I think it would be best if Matthew and I have a talk. Sybil and…Tom, here, have nothing to do with it. Sorry about this." He apologised to Tom, who was still rooted to the spot, inwardly recoiling as he realised what was coming.

"They _do_ have something to do with it, actually." Mary said. She gave Sybil a pointed look, telling her that it was her turn to speak.

Taking strength from her sister, and from the fact that her parents hadn't exploded with rage at news of Mary and Matthew's relationship, Sybil said boldly, "Tom and I are in a relationship, too."

Cora sighed audibly, obviously displeased. In her eyes, their living room might as well be the set of a Jerry Springer episode. This was all so uncouth.

"Right, of course you are." Robert muttered, rubbing his temple with one hand. All this information was rather overwhelming. "Maybe I should have a chat with you as well, then." He addressed Tom, who nodded nervously.

"So you're a lawyer as well, then?" Cora asked suspiciously, well aware that Sybil's tastes weren't as refined as they should be.

"Er…no. I'm, a…er…security guard, ma'am." Sybil would have laughed if she wasn't so uncomfortable- _she's not the Queen, Tom_.

If this had been the 19th century, Cora would have reached for her smelling-salts. "This is _absurd_." She cried. "Robert, these men have no place being with our daughters." She said angrily.

"Mum!" Sybil and Mary shouted simultaneously. Mary peered at Matthew, anxious that he would be hurt by what he heard. He winked at her reassuringly- he'd prepared himself for much worse.

"Cora, please." Robert held a hand up to silence his wife. She was a wonderful mother, but could be extremely over-bearing at times. It would be best if he handled the situation himself. "May I speak with you both privately?" The young men followed him into the drawing room.

Matthew gave Tom a reassuring pat on the back. He was in the more fortunate position of having known the Crawleys for many months, so he had some idea of how to handle himself around them. Tom, on the other hand, had been thrown straight into the deep-end.

…

Cora sat on the sofa, glaring into the mid-distance. Sybil was perched on the arm-rest, tapping her foot on the floor nervously. Mary was pacing up and down, occasionally leaning her head towards the drawing room door to hear what was being said. Unfortunately for her, the oak doors provided effective sound-insulation.

Thirty minutes had passed when Robert emerged with Matthew and Tom in tow. The three ladies immediately placed themselves at the side of their respective partners.

Robert turned to Cora, a pleased smile gracing his face. "They're in love, Cora." He said simply.

This wasn't a satisfactory enough answer for her. "What?" She asked.

"Mary and I are in love." Matthew clarified confidently, buoyed by his conversation with Robert. The older man had, thankfully, been willing to patiently listen to Matthew explicate the depth of his feelings for Mary. He'd even told him about his argument with Mary three days earlier, when she'd tried to explain her concerns over what her parents would think, which provoked a feeling of remorse in Robert. Tom then took his time detailing his feelings for Sybil, and also explained why they'd been keeping their relationship a secret. Once they'd each finished their piece, Robert had sighed deeply, and apologised profusely; it was clear how much these young men cared for his daughters (and vice versa), and the fact that they'd had to hide their love, all because of fear of judgment from him and his wife, and from their friends, made him feel terrible. He'd also apologised for Cora's behaviour, saying that he hoped neither of them had been affronted by her reaction, and assured them that she would come round eventually.

"As are Sybil and I." Tom said, now much more relaxed. He squeezed Sybil's hand as he felt it slide into his.

Mary kissed Matthew's shoulder lovingly. He smiled at her and put his arm around her shoulders, giddy that he was able to display his affection for her so openly.

Cora was unable to prevent her jaw dropping open in surprise. She'd automatically presumed that her daughters were rebelling, doing whatever they could to fight against authority and duty- this is what they'd consistently done as teenagers, so it was a natural conclusion to reach. She'd never once considered the possibility of them being in _love_. Gazing at her daughter's faces, she could see that they were positively lit up with happiness and adoration for the men standing by them. Especially Mary- why, she was a changed woman! "I see." Cora breathed, resigning herself to the fact that she couldn't interfere. She wasn't sure she even _wanted_ to interfere; she recognised true love when she saw it.

"They're good men, Cora." Robert murmured, taking the opportunity to convey this to her while his daughters fawned over their boyfriends. "They seem to know our daughters better than we do." He added regretfully.

Cora watched her daughters thoughtfully. There was going to be a _lot_ of damage-control to do amongst their society friends- but, seeing Mary playfully scold Matthew and bat his hand away as he tried to poke her during one of their quarrels, and hearing Sybil giggle girlishly as Tom whispered something in her ear, she felt like it would be worth it. A feeling of guilt settled in her stomach.

"Matthew, Tom. Could I have a quick word, please?"

Matthew answered for them both. "Of course." The two men stepped to the side of the room.

"I wanted to apologise for what I said earlier. I was worried, as a mother, that my daughters had chosen partners without thinking properly. I thought they had some ulterior motive. But I can see now that I was wrong. I should have listened to you both before casting judgment- particularly you, Matthew, seeing as you've never given me any reason to doubt your value as a gentleman. And Tom, I hope we can move past this first meeting and get to know each other more." She smiled sincerely.

"Thanks, ma'am." Tom said appreciately, finding her a lot less scary now that he knew he had her blessing.

"Oh, please, call me Cora." She laughed.

"I'm sorry, my dears." Robert said, turning to his daughters after the others had walked away. "I hadn't realised that our over-protectiveness had gotten so out of hand. I want you to know that you can tell your mother and me anything you wish, without fear of reproach." He touched each of their cheeks affectionately. Remembering his wife's reaction, he added, "Well, maybe come to me first", earning laughs from Mary and Sybil.

Mary looked over to the far side of the room. Her heart swelled to see her mother embrace Matthew. She wouldn't have let her parents' disapproval be an obstacle to her relationship with Matthew, but having their blessing made it all so much easier. Part of the reason she'd not wanted to make their relationship public was because she wanted to shield him from judgment and speculation- with her parents on their side, she could be confident that the society chatter would be tempered. There would be nothing standing in their way. _Finally_.

…

"So, my Dad told me something interesting at dinner." Mary said. She and Matthew were seated at the dining table, leisurely finishing off their desserts. Robert had invited Tom and Matthew to stay for dinner and Cora, in the absence of Greta, had quickly scraped something together. They'd all sat down when Sybil suddenly remembered that one of the family members was missing; a couple of minutes later, she ushered a rather bemused Edith into the dining room, and everybody tucked in.

Soon after dessert was served, Sybil pointed out that this was Tom's first time visiting the house. Robert immediately suggested that he should be given a tour, remarking that there were some books in the library which Tom would like to read, given his interest in developing countries (Sybil and Mary shared gleefully surprised looks- clearly they were getting along like a house on fire!). He and Cora decided to accompany Sybil and Tom on the tour, wishing to get to know him more, and wanting to make sure Sybil didn't just give him a tour of her bedroom.

"Oh? What was that?" Matthew asked, surreptitiously taking some of her cheesecake now that he'd finished all of his.

"He said you told him that I'm the love of your life." Mary said, choosing to ignore that he'd plainly stolen a forkful of her dessert. "Did you just say that to bring him round to the idea of our relationship?" She asked, trying to sound as if she wasn't too fussed about his answer.

"No, that's not why I told him that." Matthew said, setting his fork onto his plate before taking her hand in his. "I told him that because it's true." He said softly, gazing at her adoringly.

Mary felt herself get lost in his eyes- it was impossible to doubt the truth of his words when he was looking at her like that.

"Really?" She asked anyway- he was so good at articulating his feelings for her, and the sound was like music to her ears.

"Yes." He replied seriously. "I've never felt this way about anyone. It's like I can't get enough of you. Even when I'm with you, the mere knowledge that I'll have to leave you soon is enough to make me miss you. I know you so well- I feel like we know each other better than anyone else- and yet, everytime I see you I'm still amazed at how incredible you are." He paused to take in the look of radiant joyousness on Mary's face. "I know I'll soon regret telling you this," he admitted with a smirk, "but I feel like I'd do _anything _for you. I would've told your parents about us if you'd wanted me to. But I'm sort of glad I didn't have to." He chuckled with her.

"Well, likewise, Mr Crawley." Mary smiled, unable to find her own words to convey her emotions.

"You mean you'd do anything for me?" Matthew grinned.

Mary looked up at the ceiling, pretending to ponder her answer. "I suppose…most things, yes."

"Like what?"

"Like…" She broke a piece of cheesecake off onto her fork. "I'd let you finish off my dessert." She held the fork in front of his mouth.

"Wow, that's a pretty big deal." Matthew said very seriously, gladly letting her feed him.

The fork still in his mouth, Mary gently tugged the handle towards her, pulling Matthew's head closer to hers. Matthew let her pull the fork, now spotlessly clean, away.

"I love you." She said simply, her forehead almost touching his. Those words didn't seem enough, but they were all she had.

Matthew smiled at her, his azure eyes twinkling like jewels. "I love you more." He argued, closing the gap to kiss her soundly, before she had a chance to argue back.

…

_A/N: ta-da! I really hope that was a satisfactory ending for you all. But remember – it's not properly the end! An Evening In is technically the sequel, and I may decide to write more one-shots/multi-chapter stories in future. If there's anything you have in mind that you would like to see from this version of M/M, then let me know!_


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